The exhibition Abstract World presents a comprehensive solo exhibition of earlier and new paintings, drawings and works on paper by American artist Victor Matthews.

Inspired by the city, the Brooklyn-born painter’s singularly meditative and enticing representations of urban abstraction build new realities and remake personal histories. Simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic, Matthews’ themes of storytelling, disappointment, friendship, alchemy, synchronicity and search for self, hauntingly evoke the mythos of American fantasies. 

Visually complex yet orderly, the artist’s utilization of shape works in unison in service of the overall rhythm. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Matthews worked alongside his friends and contemporaries Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Donald Baechler, Ouattara Watts and under the tutelage of lifelong mentors Francesco Clemente and Brice Martin to develop his signature style. With perfectly choreographed chaos, Matthews’ work represents a sophisticated hybrid of traditional studio painting and street art techniques. The artist’s images teem with motion, abstraction, and suggestions of hierarchy – much like life.

Victor Matthew’s has been exhibited both domestically and internationally. Matthews has been invited to showcase his work at both the 48^th and 55^th iterations of the Venice Biennale. His paintings are found in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Boca Raton Museum of Art, and he counts music mogul Jay-Z, literary icon Salman Rushdie, Hollywood elites Forest Whitaker and Ellen DeGeneres, and artists Brice and Helen Martin amongst his most devoted collectors and patrons. Most recently, Matthews completed a public mural at the Los Angeles Lakers’ training facility; a callback to the artist’s street art roots.

This exhibition is a collaborative project between Spread Museum and Space Gallery St Barth – Victor Matthews is represented by Space Gallery St Barth.