About Matvei Matveev
Matvei Matveev (b. 1996, Russia) is a Russian-German artist working between London and Riga. His practice embraces the unpredictability of process, where control is relinquished in favour of material response.
Drawing from Orthodox icon painting techniques, Matveev works with egg tempera, natural pigments, linseed oil, salt, and bleach—materials chosen for their inherent instability and transformative potential.
Each step is a negotiation between tradition and decay, permanence and erosion.
Echoing Robert Ryman’s sentiment that “the question is not what to paint, but how to paint it,” Matveev’s work is an ongoing dialogue with materiality. His paintings exist beyond imposed structure, evolving through destruction and chance, revealing their own logic as they form.