Matthews’ first London solo show honours the everyday, portraying life and love in their most authentic form.  The artist invites us into her personal sphere as she becomes a quiet observer, commemorating fleeting moments in paint. The body of work celebrates the simple joys of life, from lazy nights on the sofa to the buzz of a crowded bar, chatting around the dinner table to enjoying music with friends.

Inspired by chiaroscuro paintings, Matthews uses low light to sculpt her subjects and bring her recollections to life. This sense of the intangible past is portrayed in the artist’s distinctly supple style. Details are soft and hazy, alluding to the elusiveness of memory and inviting the viewer to draw on their own experiences to make sense of what they see. 

Matthews says of her work:

“I paint the people closest to me to make sense of the moment and my place within it. My paintings glow in a familiar light and, like stills from a home movie, they reflect our own experiences. I observe the everyday and paint to commemorate it.”

In the painting Sofa, a drowsy figure wrapped in blankets stares serenely at a television screen. The unguarded pose of the subject appeals to a sense of intimacy and connection, this unknown person becomes a mother, sister or friend to the viewer. The spectator is witness to another moment of togetherness in the piece Kitchen, as a family gathers around the dining room table, bathed in a colour palette reminiscent of a Pierre Bonnard painting.

 In Lee Matthews’ exhibition, extraordinarily ordinary moments are given a greater meaning as the artist and viewers’ memories mingle and overlap, demonstrating the shared beauty of the human experience.

About Lee Matthews

 Lee Matthews received her MFA Painting from the Slade at UCL, London (UK), having previously studied at Cornell University, New York (US) for her BFA Painting. Lee currently lives and works in London. Exhibitions include, Dentons Art Prize, Shortlisted Exhibition London, This Year’s Model at Studio1.1, In Formation, at Thames Side Studio Gallery and The Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize finalist exhibition, Topophobophilia, Mclusky Bell & Young; Gallery 46, London. Lee can also be found painting at The National Gallery, where she was recently given copyist privileges.