Artist’s Statement
I am a painter and mixed media artist living and working between Whitstable, UK, and Melbourne, Australia. Traversing the land-edges of opposite hemispheres continually reshapes my sense of place, feeding investigations into shifting interior landscapes as much as changing physical geographies. My skin abrades against the cracked concrete and sharp-chipped flints of the North Kent coast, while the wild openness of Victoria’s Bass Strait blows stinging salt into my eyes. I think of my body as a highly sensitised Rover Machine, trained to detect and process both beauty and danger.
Growing up as a gay boy in 1960s and 70s London, my bedroom became a chaotic sanctuary. Violet walls were layered with coloured scribblings. An auburn-haired Sasha Doll sat in dialogue with a khaki-clad Action Man with gripping hands, both compelled to listen to Cilla Black declaring You’re My World from a scratched 45. Jewel-like Matchbox cars nestled beside miniature farm buildings dusted with talcum-powder snow. It was here that dreamscapes became collaged cardboard vehicles and brightly coloured sticky-back plastic characters. Making was both refuge and rehearsal: a way of imagining other worlds while learning to inhabit my own.
My studio continues this function today. It is a safe site for experimentation, where you will find me stitching together dyed window netting to paint-encrusted hessian and inserting sad, weathered lengths of twine into the holes of crumbling mortared forms. I make collaged paintings in which string emerges through grommets, sculptures of weighted concrete totems supporting flamboyant flourishes of abstraction, and site-specific installations using coil-built ceramics and colour-stained fabrics. These materials feel less like passive substances than living companions. They seem to inhabit my body, jostling for release, urging me into movement until they find their way into the world.
The hairs pushing through my skin become antennas collecting experience and data. As I fall through vortexes of light-filled revery or fly above empty deserts and landscapes gouged by human intervention, psychological and topographic terrains begin to merge. They stir internal tides of joy, adrenaline, fear, longing, and love. The Rover Machine kicks itself back into action, searching instinctively for materials capable of holding these emotional currents.
A fragile crustation-like claw erupts through an algaefied sheath of taught fluorescent green nylon. Scratchy horsehair foams out of the end of a pastel pink stoneware pipe. Saturated velveteen bordello-esque tassels skid and stain across slippery sheer faux satins. These encounters are intended to unsettle, beckoning closer inspection. My work encourages viewers to enter uncertain terrain – to splash back into the murk with curiosity, trusting that under the dusty film there is light, connection and the possibility of discovering new ways of feeling.
Bio
Matthew Swift’s first studio was in Hoxton 1994, before gaining an MFA in studio art from NYU 1999. He has exhibited in New York, Philadelphia, Melbourne, London and Kent and shown extensively in group and two-person shows, including ‘Constructure’, Standpoint Gallery and ‘Dialogue with DeKooning’, RCA. He co-curated ‘24 Hours of Everything’ with Paula Stuttman for ‘Whitstable Biennale Satellite’ 2018. 2014 set up Ground Collective curating a series of exhibitions including ‘Ground Work’, APT Gallery 2021. Co-curated ‘Something Happened Here’, Asylum Gallery, Suffolk 2025 and ‘Messages from a Silent River’ Hypha Gallery 2, 1 Poultry, 2025. Curated ‘Light Forms Shape’, Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne, 2026. He had a residency at the Florence Trust 2008 and was shortlisted for the Chiara Williams SOLO Award 2018. He completed PADA Residency 2024. His work is in private collections in Europe, United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States.
CV
Education
| 2019-2023 | TURPS Correspondence Course, UK. |
| 2002-2003 | PGCE in Art and Design, Institute of Education, Bedford Way, London |
| 1997-1999 | MFA in Studio Art, New York University, USA |
| 1986-1989 | BA Theatre Design, Central/St Martins School of Art and Design, London |
| 1984-1985 | Foundation Course, Central/St Martins School of Art and Design, London |
Exhibitions
| May 2026 | ‘with no more sound than the mice make’, Unprimed Collective, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London |
| May 2026 | ‘Contrariwise’, Studio 1.1/SLUICE, London, E2 7DJ |
| March 2026 | ‘Light Forms Shape’, Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| Nov 2025 | ‘Messages from a Silent River’, Hypha Gallery 2, 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EN |
| Oct 2025 | ‘Striding Edge’, Unprimed Collective, The Department Store, Brixton, London |
| July 2025 | ‘Something Happened Here’, Asylum Studios Gallery, Bentwaters, Suffolk |
| May 2025 | ‘Time to Time’, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London SE15 3SN |
| March 2025 | ‘Quiet, Bright’, Terrace Gallery, London E17 7HU |
| Feb 2025 | ‘Floating Worlds’, Frank, Whitstable, Kent |
| Feb 2025 | ‘The Floor is Lava’, 125 Shaftesbury Ave, London, WC2H 9HR |
| Oct 2024 | ‘Layers’, The Department Strore, Brixton, London UK |
| Sept 2024 | ‘After Sunset I Gather My Belongings’, PADA Gallery, Barreiro, Portugal |
| July 2024 | ‘Textile Open’, No Format Gallery, Moulding Lane, London SE14 6BN |
| Oct 2023 | ‘Under Their Skin’, One Paved Court, TW9 1LZ |
| Sept 2023 | ‘Do Not Swallow’, Safehouse 1 & 2, London SE15 3SN |
| July 2023 | ‘Uncertain Edges’, Electro Studios Project Space, St Leonard’s on Sea, Sussex |
| May 2023 | ‘EYE DOOR’, Safehouse 1, London SE15 3SN |
| March 2023 | ‘Mud, for you’, Fitzrovia Gallery, London W1T 5EN |
| Jan 2023 | ‘Bayside Local’, Brighton Town Hall, Victoria 3186, Australia |
| Dec 2022 | ‘Small Works Art Prize’, Brunswick Street Gallery, Victoria 3065, Australia |
| Nov 2022 | ‘Material Presence’ Part One, Fitzrovia Gallery, London W1T 5EN |
| July 2022 | ‘Crouch End Tiger Hidden Banana’, North London Art Dialogue, Hornsey Library, |
| March 2022 | ‘This Year’s Model Part One’ Studio1.1, Shoreditch, London E2. |
| Jan 2022 | ‘In Formation’ Group Show, Thames Side Gallery, London SE18. |
| Nov 2021 | ‘The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog’. Online exhibition with Cohort Art. |
| Oct 2021 | ‘Ground Work’ APT Gallery, Deptford, London SE8. |
| June 2021 | ‘In Response’ Group Show, Nunnery Gallery, London E3. |
| Feb 2021 | ‘In Absentia’ Online exhibition with Cohort Art. |
| Oct 2020 | ‘Incubator of Ideas’ APT Gallery, Deptford, London SE8. |
| July 2019 | ‘Colour Space’ group show, Pie Factory, Margate, Kent |
| March 2019 | ‘By The Way’ group show, Lewisham Arthouse, London |
| June 2018 | 24 hours of everything, with Paula Stuttman, Whitstable Biennale Satellite, Whitstable Station, Kent |
| May 2018 | Chiara Williams Solo Award Finalists Exhibition, Cello Factory, London SE1 |
| Nov 2017 | Winter Salon, Rye Creative Centre, Sussex |
| Aug 2017 | Summer Salon Angus Hughes Gallery London E5 |
| Dec 2016 | Thames: The Artery of London, St Katharine Dock, London E1W |
| June 2016 | ‘Amalgam’ new work as part of Whitstable Biennale Satellite, Kent |
| Oct 2015 | ‘Things That Are There’ group show, Pie Factory, Margate, Kent |
| 2013-2014 | Ongoing group shows at Frank, Whitstable, Kent |
| April 2012 | Group show at Maybe a Vole, King Henry’s Walk, London N1 |
| Feb 2010 | ‘Constructure’, with Simon Haddock at Standpoint Gallery, Hoxton, London |
| July 2009 | ‘Paddington Puff’, at Tina We Salute You! King Henry’s Walk, London N1 |
| April 2009 | Solo Show at Madame Lillie’s, Cazenove Rd, London N16 |
| Sept 2008 | Illumini, group show, Crypt St Pancras, London NW1 |
| July 2008 | Florence Trust, Residency Show, St Saviours Church, London N5 |
| Aug 2007 | 1 Year Residency at Florence Trust, St Saviours Church, London N5 |
| Nov 2006 | ‘Piecing It Together’, solo show, The Barsbury, London N1 |
| Nov 2005 | Group show, Candid Gallery, Islington, London N1 |
| June 2004 | Group show, Candid Gallery, Islington, London N1 |
| Jan 2002 | ‘Pin It Down’, solo show, Linden Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| Dec 2001 | ‘Nervous Energy’, solo show, West Space, Melbourne |
| Sept 2001 | ‘Time and Place’, solo show, Landau Gallery, Melbourne |
| Jan 2001 | Group show, Landau Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| Jan 2001 | Postcard Show, Landau Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| Oct 2000 | ‘Clouds of the Mediated World’, Wesley Douvos, Melbourne, Australia |
| June 2000 | ‘Re-map’ Wesley Douvos, Melbourne, Australia |
| July 1999 | ‘La Nina’ group show, Site Simpatico, New York |
| April 1999 | ‘Sake’, group show, ES Vandam Gallery, SoHo, New York |
| May 1999 | ‘Wrestling with Mary Shelley’, group show, Blohard Gallery, Philadelphia |
| Nov 1998 | ‘Ports of Call’, Dean’s Office, NYU School of Education, New York |
| Sept 1998 | ’24 Hours of Cable’, with Paula Stuttman, Rosenberg Gallery, New York |
| July 1996 | Group show, New Hoxton Studios, Whitechapel Open, Hoxton, London |
| Sept 1995 | Group show, New Hoxton Studios, Hoxton, London |
| June 1995 | Group show, City Lit, Business Design Centre, Islington, London |
| April 1995 | ‘Dialogue with De Kooning’, group show, Tate ed dept, RCA, London |
| Dec 1994 | Group show, New Hoxton Studios, Hoxton, London |
| Sept 1994 | Arts Threshold Theatre, solo show, Paddington, London |
| June 1994 | Group show, New Hoxton Studios, Whitechapel Open, Hoxton, London |
Curation
| March 2026 | ‘Light Forms Shape, Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne, Australia |
| Nov 2025 | ‘Messages from a Silent River’, Hypha Gallery 2, 1 Poultry, London EC2R 8EN |
| July 2025 | ‘Something Happened Here’ (co-curator), Asylum Studios Gallery, Bentwaters, Suffolk |
| Oct 2021 | ‘Ground Work’ (co-curator), APT Gallery, Deptford, London SE8 |
| March 2019 | ‘By The Way’, Lewisham Arthouse, London |
| June 2018 | ‘24 hours of everything’, curated with Paula Stuttman, Whitstable Station, Kent |
| Oct 2015 | ‘Things That Are There’, Pie Factory, Margate, Kent |
Theatre Design
| Aug 1993 | ‘A Dance with my Memories’, Arts Threshold, Paddington, London |
| June 1993 | ‘Sex and Violence at the Fantasy Café’, Arts Threshold, London |
| June 1992 | ‘The True Story of Ah Q’, Soho Poly Theatre, London |
| Nov 1989 | Linbury Prize for Theatre Design, exhibition, Royal National Theatre |
Publications
March 2025 ‘Yellow; Form, Light, Liquidity, Air. In Praise of this Mercurial Colour’ included in A Pastel Palette – Reflections on Pastel Colours compiled by Lucy Cade the curator of ‘Quiet. Bright’.