Matthew David Smith

Living and working in Oxford, UK.

My current paintings behave like small emotional relics, intimate objects that hold the ghost of human presence. They carry the marks, gestures, and hesitations left behind. The painted surface is both a barrier and invitation. Each piece sits in a fragile equilibrium between chaos and control, a tension between impulse and restraint.

Like the city accumulates scratches, layers, and traces of our lives, I want my work to function as a kind of archaeology. A surface that records time through the slow build‑up and erasure of marks. Working small feels important to me, the scale makes each painting feel like a journal entry, a moment captured through layers. They become objects that encapsulate experience.

A significant part of my work is the viewer’s perception. They bring their own emotions, histories and interpretations. I can explain what the paintings mean to me, but ultimately I hope they hold far more for others. I want them to become spaces where people recognise something of themselves.

Oxford Brookes University - BA Hons in Fine Art
2011 - 2014

Oxford Brookes University - Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art and Design
2010 – 2011

Solo Exhibitions
• Sarah Wiseman Gallery, Oxford, UK.
• The Jam Factory, Oxford, UK.

Group Exhibitions
• Modern Art Hire, London, UK.
• The Auction Collective, London, UK.
• Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Summertime, Denmark.
• Galleri Benoni, Art Herning, Denmark.
• Beers London, Works on Paper, London.
• Selected Works from the Bech Risvig Collection, Huset for Kunst of Designer, Denmark.
• Coates and Scarry Gallery, Lower Gallery, London.
• Coates and Scarry Gallery, Selected Works Exhibition, London.
• Coates and Scarry Gallery, Visceral, London.
• Jealous (Print Run) - Saatchi Gallery, London.
• Zuleika Gallery, Colourtastic, Oxford, UK
• Transition Gallery, Paper Cuts curated by Kristian Day, London, UK.
• Hidden, Zuleika Gallery, London.
• Sampler presented by Kristian Day at Arcade Fine Art, London.
• Contemporary Perception, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Lawrence Alkin Gallery, Winter Group Show, London.
• Marie Kirkegaard Gallery, Colour Me Full, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Charlotte Fogh Gallery, Hello Abstraction, Aarhus, Denmark.
• Lacey Contemporary, London, UK.
• The Hatch, Oxford, UK.
• The Old Truman Brewery, London, UK.
• OVADA, Replay, Oxford, UK.
• The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, UK.
• The Jam Factory, Home Again, ...