Victor Matthews

Overview

My paintings start with charcoal drawings, applied directly on each linen canvas as one continuous stream of consciousness, never lifting the charcoal off the canvas until each thought is complete.

Victor Matthews is a renowned African American artist known for his white-on-white paintings, which emerge from a stream-of-consciousness process, capturing fleeting yet profound moments of time and space. His compositions, often inspired by the urban and natural landscapes of his native New York City, evoke a sense of rhythm and introspection, resonating with themes of memory, identity, and transformation.

Matthews studied at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan and earned a BFA from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Thriving in the 1980s art scene, he worked alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Matthews has exhibited across the U.S. and internationally, including at the 48th Venice Biennale, Museum Sala Uno (Rome), and Stephen Wirtz Gallery (San Francisco). His work is in collections such as Museum Overholland (Amsterdam), Museum Ludwig (Cologne), and the New School (New York). His pieces are held in prestigious private collections, including those of Russell Simmons, Brice and Helen Marden, Vera List, and Salman Rushdie.

Works