Matvei Matveev is a Russian-German Artist living and working in London.
Growing up bilingual and in-between cultures meant it was difficult to feel at home. Painting grew to be a grounding ritual to deal with this transience, fluctuating identity and the unusual family dynamics that came with it.
At the core of his practice lies an investigation of loneliness and feelings of disconnect to cultures he has experienced. Matvei mirrors this transience and unpredictability of his upbringing in the materiality of his process – a process where his direct gesture is removed, canvases are folded, stained and left in the rain, wind or snow for days.
The paintings grow in themselves, emerging from all that’s happened on the first hidden layer. It is rather unpredictable in the beginning, but as the layers grow, the more the voice of the materials merges with that of the maker.
'I caught images behind images, the walls behind the sky, the sky behind the infinite. The walls became fountains, the fountains became arches, the domes skies, the sky a flowering carpet, and all dissolved into pure space.' Anaïs Nin
Always misty and mysterious in its inaccessibility. An image passing by. This forest knows many tales, and sometimes whispers them to me while insects crawl and birds crackle all around. It speaks to me through the mist that rises at dusk from the marsh, drawing me in and dissolving the barrier between us. Resistance eases and I become permeable, receptive to its tales. Fertile and swarming. Cold taste of paternal lips. Pour your intoxicating draft over me.
