Peter Matthews

Born Derby, England

MA Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University, England
BA Fine Art with Honours, Nottingham Trent University, England / SUNY Oneonta, New York


Solo exhibitions

2024
The Italian Cultural Institute, Miami, USA, Go Where the Wind Takes You

2022
Beers London, London, England, Shape Shifter

2021
Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea, Wales, Grounded

2020
White Conduit Projects, London, England, Between the Ocean, the Sky and Ourselves

2019
Royal Museums Greenwich, The National Maritime Museum, London, England, From Along the Atlantic Coast
Beers London, London, England, The End Is Where They Start From
The Former Bank of Japan, Hiroshima, Japan, The End Is Where They Start From
Haarlem Artspace, Wirksworth, England, Pacific Ocean Drawings

2018
Montoya, Barcelona, Spain, The End Is Where They Start From (cat)
Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain

2017
Strange Cargo, Folkestone, England, From the Pacific to the Atlantic
Espacio 88, Barcelona, Spain, Along the Atlantic In Memory of the Pacific

2016
Beers London, London, England, In Search of the Sublime
Artissima, Torino, Italy, In Search of the Sublime

2015
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California
University California San Diego, California

2013
Beers London, London, England, Surroundings 

2011
James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA, Continuum
Mendes Wood DM, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sea Marks


(cat)
denotes exhibition catalogue

Other exhibitions

2025
Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Oslo, Norway, Rolling, Action, Paint
Messums West, Wiltshire, England, Landscape Painting Today

2024
Messums London, London, England, Landscape Painting Today
Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, England and touring the UK, Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize
Informality Gallery, London, England, Abstractions
Fiermonte Museum, Lecce, Italy, Va ‘dove ti porta il vento
Asia Society, New York, USA, Art for the Oceans
Beep Painting Biennale, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales

2023
Giant Gallery, Bournemouth, England, SEISMIC: Art Meets Science

2022
Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, Climate
Shiosai, Hiroshima, Japan, Voyage

2021
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England, John Moores Painting Prize (cat)
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England, Ikon for Artists
Informality Gallery, Henley-on-Thames, England, From Nature
White Conduit Projects, London, England, Pacific Breeze II
Christie’s London, England, Le Ciel Foundation, Wisdom and Nature (cat)
The Island, Bristol, England, Scratch Lab Film Screening

2020
Shanghai Mingshan Art Museum, Shanghai, China, 2020 John Moores Painting Prize (China)
Queen’s House, The Royal Museums, Greenwich, London, Ocean Lines
Christie’s New York, USA, Le Ciel Foundation, Wisdom and Nature (cat)
The Ruskin Museum, Lancaster, England, Drawn to Investigate
UMF Gallery, Farmington, Maine, USA, Sound, Spectacle and Situation

2019
Zona Maco Arte Contemporáneo, México City, México
Filatoio di Caraglio, Caraglio, Italy, Under Water (cat)
Groundwork Gallery, King’s Lynn, England, Water Rising
Kenter International Drawing Space, New York, USA, Portrait
Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, Summer Exhibition 
Hote Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, Ōkeanós

2018
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England, John Moores Painting Prize (cat)
Künstlerforum Bonn, Bonn, Germany, No Man Is an Island (cat)
Museo Nazionale della Montagna, Torino, Italy, Post Water (cat)
Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, Summer Exhibition (cat)
Beers London, London, England, Summer Salon
Saatchi Gallery, London, England
Drawing Center, New York, USA, Annual Benefit Auction
The Concept Space, London, England, Rendition
Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, England, Gute Bekannte

2017
Drawing Room, London, England, Drawing Biennial 2017 (cat)
Royal Academy of Arts, London, England,  Summer Exhibition
Centro de Arte y Naturaleza, Fundacion Beulas, Spain, Natura Index
Beers London, London, England, Works on Paper
The Strand Gallery, London, England, Poems for the Ocean
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery; Falmouth Art Gallery; Poole Museum and The Wilson, Cheltenham, England, Alternative Visions (cat)
Artlink, Hull, England, Shape Arts ARMB 2017
Alto Fest, Naples, Italy, I'll See You Out There

2016
Peninsula Arts, Plymouth, England; Strange Cargo, Folkestone, England and Crescent Arts, Scarborough, England, Head Above Water
Ferenczy Art Center, Hungary, Art Capital Szentendre: Visual Arts Festival and Biennial
Drawing Center, New York, Benefit Auction
Ionian Art and Culture Center, Greece, Sea(s)
Projektraum der Group Global 3000, Berlin, Germany, The Sea
Wirksworth Festival, Derbyshire, England, Nature: Here and Now
Bath Spa University Media Wall, England, Landscaping Change
UCF Gallery, Florida, USA, Surfaces
American Fabrics Building, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA, Water
Force 8, Bridport, Dorset, England, Bodies of Water

2015
Art House Productions Gallery, New Jersey, USA, After Image: Contemporary Artists and Photography
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, USA, Art and Nature Festival 2015
Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster Arts. Lancaster, England, Change and Interchange          
Shape Arts, London, England, Shortlist 7
Sector 2337, Chicago, USA, Plants, Machines, Animals and Objects
Land/Water and the Visual and Moving Arts Groups, Plymouth University, England, Bodies of Water
Kentler International Drawing Space, New York, USA, Works On Paper
Minesweeper boat at Greenwich, London, England, I'll See You Out There

2014
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, England, Power of the Sea (cat) 
Curious Matter, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, Terra Incognita (cat)
Fountain Gallery, Lafayette, Indiana, USA, Set In Motion
Kentler International Drawing Space, New York, USA, Circumstances
Falmouth University Galleries, Cornwall, England, The Haunted Landscape: Nature, Super-Nature and the Environment
Arebyte Gallery, London, England, Journeys
Banff Castle, Aberdeen, Scotland, Coast Festival 2014
Whitdel Arts, Detroit, USA, The Deep End
Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, Homer, Alaska, USA, Ocean’s Lament
Aalto University, Pori, Finland, White Cube
Konnektor, Forum für Künste, Hannover, Germany, Appendage

2013
North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina, USA, 0:60 The Experience of Time through Contemporary Art (cat) 
Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, USA, 0:60 The Experience of Time through Contemporary Art
Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Germany, Sea Journeys
Forum Factory, Berlin, Germany, Glasklar Milchig
Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock, California, USA, Imagining the Real
An Tobar, Comar, Isle of Mull, Scotland, KartinaZembla/Picture Island 
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, England, Drawn 2013

2012
James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA, Landscape
The Library Space, Battersea, London, Beers London, London, England, A History Revisited
Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, England, Breeder
Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, USA, represented by Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, Pulse New York
James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA, VIP Works on Paper (online) 
Karst, Plymouth, England, Spectral

2011
James Cohan Gallery, ADAA Exhibition, New York, USA, Cosmology
Beers London, London, England, Systems Beyond Certainty
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, represented by Mendes Wood DM, Art Rio International Contemporary Art Fair
Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, England, Landscape and Memory
Centro de Artes y Naturaleza Film Festival, Zaragoza, Spain, Proyectaragon 
British Art Show 7 fringe exhibition, Plymouth, England, Vessel 2011
Kentler Gallery, New York, USA, Marked Differences
New Curtois Gallery, The Collection, Lincoln, England, Opem 

2010
Drawing Center, New York, USA, Selections Spring 2010: Sea Marks (cat) 
Drawing Center, New York, USA, Benefit Auction Drawing Gifts 2010
Mall Galleries, London, England, ING Discerning Eye Drawing Exhibition
Raday Kepshaz Galeria, Budapest, Hungary, With/Drawn
Annex 21, Worcester, England, Worcester Contemporary
Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, England, Sculptures from the Media Stream 

2009
Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien Gallery, Berlin, Germany, Drawings No.10
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England, Derby City Open

2008
Centre for Recent Drawing, London, England, Pacific Ocean Drawings

2006
New Media Gallery, Virginia, USA, Contemporary Perspectives and New Media 
Darlington College of Arts, Devon, England, DRHA

2004
Barrett Art Center, New York, USA, Photowork 2004
Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England, One Step Beyond

2003
T.W. Art Gallery, Vermont, USA, Contemporary Drawing
Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, California, USA, Time and Transcendence

Recognitions and awards

2024 Selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize
2022 Hugh Casson Drawing Prize, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2021 Selected for the John Moores Painting Prize
2020 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York
2020 Arts Council of Wales Grant
2020 Arts Council of England Emergency Response Fund Grant
2020 Crafts Council U.K. Grant
2019 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship
2019 Arts Council of England Grant
2019 The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Grant
2019 Changing Coasts Creativity Fellowship, Swansea University, Wales
2018   Selected for the John Moores Painting Prize
2017   Hugh Casson Drawing Prize, Royal Academy of Arts, London
2017   Arts Council of England Grant
2016   The Annex Collection Acquisition Award
2015   Honorarium, Laguna Arts Museum, California
2015   Visual Arts Sea Grant, University of Rhode Island
2015   Landscape Artist of the Year, Sky Arts
2014   Finalist, Francois Schneider Contemporary Talents, France
2011    Landscape Instants Film Prize, CDAN Centro de Artes Naturales, Huesca, Spain
2011    Drawing Prize, OPEM, New Curtois Gallery, Lincoln, England
2010   Short listed for the ING Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary 2010
2010   Honorarium, Drawing Center, New York
2009  British Council Grant to Visual Artist
2008  AA2A Grant to Practicing Artist
2005  Arts Council of England Grant
2004  Princess Trust Grant

Residencies

2024 D’ Puglia in collaboration with the Fiermonte Museum, Italy
2015   Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California
2015   Experimental Drawing Lab, University California San Diego, California
2014   Boisbuchet, France
2005 - 2008 UMAR, Oaxaca, México

Collections

Work in private collections in the USA, UK, France, Spain, México, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Japan, Taiwan, China, Netherlands, Russia, Turkey and Brazil
Rubell Family Collection, Miami
University of Oxford
SoHo House, Babington House, England
Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection
Isabel and Agustin Coppel Collection, México
Centro de Arte y Naturaleza, Fundacion Beulas, Spain
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California
National Maritime Museum, London
The Annex Collection U.K.

Selected Bibliography

2024

Trinity Buoy Wharf/Jerwood Arts, London. Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize Exhibition Catalogue.

2023

Interalia Magazine. Becoming ocean becoming me. Available at: https://www.interaliamag.org/interviews/peter- matthews/

Trebuchet Magazine. Seismic Art: Visions of Science. Available at: https://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/seismic-art- visions-of-science/

2021
National Museums of Liverpool. John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition Catalogue.
Ocula Magazine. From Nature: The Materials Are the Message. Available at: https://ocula.com/magazine/insights/the-materials-are-the-message/.
Seisma Magazine. A Painter Shifted by Marine Biology. Available at: https://seismamag.com/visual-fine-art/peter-matthews.

2020

Elephant Magazine (#41), by Carey-Grant, P. Can Art Move the World. pp.32-36.
Volume Press. DRAWN, (#1). In Dialogue with the Ocean. pp. 145-172.
Casey, S. and Davies, G. (2020). Drawing Investigations: Graphic Relationships with Science, Culture and Environment. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Casey, S., Davies, G. and Gørrill, H. ed., (2020). Drawn to Investigate. Lancaster: The Ruskin - Museum of the Near Future, Lancaster University.

2019

Finisterre. Peter Matthews X Limited Edition Collaboration. Available at: https://finisterre.com/pages/peter-matthews.
Oceanic Global. Peter Matthews. Available at: https://oceanic.global/peter-matthews/.
Nouse. So Much To Sea. Available at: https://nouse.co.uk/2019/03/06/so-much-to-sea.

2018

National Museums of Liverpool. John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition Catalogue.
Royal Academy of Arts, London. 250th  Summer Exhibition Illustrated Catalogue.
Künstlerforum Bonn, Bonn, Germany. No Man Is an Island Exhibition Catalogue.
Museo Nazionale della Montagna, Torino, Italy. Post Water Exhibition Catalogue.
BBC Radio 4. Art Beneath the Waves. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00013nr.
BBC News. The man who paints in the ocean. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43584232.
BBC World Service . The Why Factor, Being at Sea. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswrkb.
BBC Radio Derby, Peter Matthews talks with Presenter Sally Pepper. Available at: http://petermatthews.org/bbc-radio-april-2018.
Lerda, A. 134. PETER MATTHEWS. Platformgreen.org. Available at: http://www.platformgreen.org/projects-index/326-matthews.
Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, Ten, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London.

2017

CBC. Artist Peter Matthews gets intimate with nature by bringing his art into the ocean . CBC Radio. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-friday-january-6-2017-1.3920956/artist-peter-matthews-gets-intimate-with-nature-by-bringing-his-art-into-the-ocean-1.3923948 .
Howes, D., Heywood, I., Casey, S. and Davies, G. (2017). Sensory Arts and Design: Drawn Away from Vision: Encounters with the Unseen. 1st ed. Bloomsbury Academic.

2016

The Guardian. Frizzell, N. Meet the underwater artist inspired by a near-death experience. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/09/peter-matthews-underwater-artist--near-death-experience.
Los Angeles Times – Artist Gets Physical to Explore Metaphysical Concepts. Available at: http://www.latimes.com/socal/weekend/news/tn-wknd-et-0110-hansen-20160110-story.html.
Ernest Journal. The Free-Diving Artist. Available at: http://www.ernestjournal.co.uk/blog/2016/6/2/the-sea-artist.
Floorr. Issue Five. Peter Matthews. Available at: https://www.floorrmagazine.com/issue-5/peter-matthews.
The Cornishman. When Creativity Hits Like  a Wave. Cornwall. Newspaper. Pages 1-3. 

2015

Art.Zip. Water Colours-Interview with Peter Matthews. Available at http://www.artzip.org/peter-matthews.

2014

Kerr, J. Power of the Sea. Bristol: Royal West of England Academy.
The Island Review. Bewitched by the Sea. Available at: http://theislandreview.com/bewitchedsea/.
Tuuum. Artist Interview. Available at: http://blog.tuuum.com/post/80681751388/peter-matthews.
Apollo Magazine. Review: ‘The Power of the Sea’ at the Royal West of England Academy by Melanie Vandebrouck. Available at: https://www.apollo-magazine.com/review-power-sea-royal-west-england-academy/.

2013

0 to 60: The Experience of Time Through Contemporary Art. Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, pp.108-111.

2012

The Common. Portrait of  Land and Sea. Available at: https://www.thecommononline.org/portraits-of-land-and-sea/.

2010

Katchadourian, N. and Burnett, D. (2010). Selections, Spring 2010: Sea Marks. New York: The Drawing Center.
The Drawing Center, New York. Selections Spring 2010: Sea Marks. Issuu. Available at: https://issuu.com/drawingcenter/docs/drawingpapers89_seamarks.
Parsons School of Design, New York. Mapping Ocean Dynamics. Available at: http://piim.newschool.edu/journal/issues/2010/04/pdfs/ParsonsJournalForInformationMapping_Matthews-Peter.pdf .