Born in Johannesburg and educated in both Tokyo and London, I have exhibited alongside Billy Childish, Yoko Ono, Damien Hirst, Jamie Reid, Chris Riddell, Yohji Yamamoto, David Lloyd, Guy Venables and Sir Paul McCartney.
I am eternally receptive to and inspired by the aesthetic of Wabi Sabi or the beauty of imperfection and I love to mix paint mediums and play with the effects. This can be the most exciting part of the creative process: watching for the unfathomable splendors that emerge from the chaos of experimental technique.
2021 | Luxembourg Art Prize Certificate of Artistic Merit | Luxembourg
2020 | Luxembourg Art Prize Certificate of Artistic Merit | Luxembourg
2019 | Luxembourg Art Prize Certificate of Artistic Merit | Luxembourg
2016 | Luxembourg Art Prize Certificate of Artistic Merit | Luxembourg
2015 | Finalist Connect2Colour Summer Arts Prize London | UK
2014 | Painted Europe’s first Rainbow Pedestrian Crossing in Brighton | UK
2013 | Painting selected by author Neil Gaiman featured in ‘A Calendar of Tales’
2011 | Paintings featured in Spy Drama ‘Page Eight’ | BBC Television
2004 | Winner Brighton Artist of the Year | UK
2005 | Nominated for the Ambassadors Art Prize | Belgium
2005 | Nominated for the Women’s Art Show Basingstoke | UK
2004 | Shortlisted for the Brighton Festival Art Prize | UK
STATEMENT
I explore the canvas with paint and sponges, dyes and brushes looking past the obvious, discovering beauty in unfamiliar places. Immersed in the boundaries of the canvas I begin to create a world within worlds.
There is no notion of beginning or end: just the story in transition that gradually unfolds in time.
There are gates that open with light brush marks and delicacy: a revelation. Heavy laden sponges of paint open portals of darkness that construct patterns: a matrix.
Texture shapes forms and the narrative begins….
I paint in layers like a palimpsest.
The first layer is the most superficial, literal interpretation, the most mundane layer : the final image. Hiding just beneath, the symbolic or allegorical second layer : look closely and you will see. Then comes the layer of the seeker, where comparative meaning can be drawn from : it’s a feeling. The final layer is the hidden layer, full of esoteric meaning : the connection. It is the essence of the work where I began : the seed that grew to the first layer.
The cycle is complete.
INSPIRATION AND PROCESS
My work sparks from transforming the experiences and feelings evoked in me by radio plays, audio books, literature, song lyrics and poetry. I build such great pictures with these words and translate them into my work to form visual narrative through play with colour and light. Always delighting in intangible juxtaposition, form and negative space.
I am eternally receptive to and inspired by the aesthetic of Wabi Sabi or ‘the beauty of imperfection and I love to mix paint mediums and play with the effects. This can be the most exciting part of the creative process: watching for the unfathomable splendors that emerge from the chaos of experimental technique.
I paint with my hands and household sponges onto canvases laid flat on the floor. I begin painting with a specific colour that I have in my mind’s eye then introduce other colours to layer the canvas. Like a palimpsest of tones, these layers are then scratched off and layered over again and again. I adore the presence of previous markings that are an inherent part of the composition though they remain just out of reach of the searching gaze.
The subjects in the layers are buried in the dark and exposed in the light spaces. They come out and disappear as lighting shifts th and they present varying facets and aspects depending upon one's mood.
I consider each successive layer a generation to populate or depopulate the canvas as needed and create my own world as I go.
I like to create a world within worlds.
As a child, I was fascinated by the Lowly Worm in the Richard Scarry books. I loved scouring each page to seek out that worm and when I found it I would feel most content - like I had discovered a piece of secret truth that would uncover all the answers to my questions about the universe. There are some Lowly Worms to be found in my abstracts, albeit in symbolic form.
EXHIBITIONS
2021 | November FLUX Exhibition | Greenwich Peninsula | London
2019 | July Turning Tides Festival |Greenwich Peninsula | London
2019 | July Women in Art Exhibition | Elena Shchukina Gallery Mayfair | London
2019 | March FLUX Exhibition | The National Army Museum Chelsea | London
2018 | May/June Group Exhibition | Elena Shchukina Gallery Mayfair | London
2018 | April FLUX Exhibition | Chelsea College of Arts Chelsea | London
2017 | October Private Exhibition | Stefano Ricci Store Mayfair | London
2017 | July FLUX Exhibition | Chelsea College of Arts Chelsea | London
2017 | May/June Group Exhibition | Elena Shchukina Gallery Mayfair | London
2016 | November FLUX Exhibition | The Old Truman Brewery | London
2015 | December FLUX Exhibition | Royal College of Art Kensington | London
2015| August Group Exhibition | Lacey Contemporary Gallery Holland Park | London
2015 | July Elements Exhibition | Gabriel Fine Art Gallery Notting Hill Gate | London
2015 | June Lungs Exhibition | Brighton
2015 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2015 | April Women’s Art Exhibition | Brush Gallery | Brighton
2015 | February BOAT Theatre Auction | Brighton
2014 | December Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2014 | October ACHICA Promotion | Online
2014 | October The Other Art Fair | Truman Brewery | London
2014 | September RISE Charity Auction | Amex Stadium | Brighton
2014 | June Painted Europe’s first Rainbow Pedestrian Crossing | Brighton
2014 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2014 | April The Other Art Fair | Ambika P3 Mayfair | London
2014 | March Private Exhibition | Clyde & Co Solicitors | Guildford
2013 | December Private Exhibition | The Hospital Club | London
2013 | December Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2013 | November World Aids Day Charity Exhibition |Brighton Dome | Brighton
2013 | November Art4Aid Charity Auction | Plumpton
2013 | October Affordable Art Fair Battersea | London
2013 | October The Other Art Fair | Truman Brewery | London
2013 | September Down To The Bone | Onca Gallery | Brighton
2013 | September Northern Art Exhibition | West Yorkshire
2013 | July Oxford Art Fair | Oxford
2013 | June Painting selected by Neil Gaiman featured in ‘A Calendar of Tales’
2013 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2012 | December Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2012 | October Affordable Art Fair | Singapore
2012 | September Affordable Art Fair Battersea | London
2012 | September Group Show | Store Street Gallery | London
2012 | September LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair Berkeley Square | London
2012 | May Art in the Windmill | Rottingdean
2012 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2012 | January | Laughing Dog Gallery | Brighton
2011 | December Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2011 | November Dame Vera Lynn Trust Art Auction | Horsham
2011 | October Off Beige Exhibition | Brighton
2011 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2011 | April Tsunami Relief Art Auction | London
2011 | January | Skyline Gallery | Brighton
2011 | March Spy Drama Page Eight | BBC Television
2011 | January Figuratively Speaking Exhibition | Cambridge
2011 | December Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2010 | July | Blue Dog Gallery | Brighton
2010 | May Hove Champagne Festival VIP Room | Brighton
2010 | May ARTY Auction | Grand Hotel | Brighton
2010 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2009 | June Cambridge Art Fair | Cambridge
2009 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2009 | May Glasgow Art Fair | Glasgow
2008 | September Edinburgh Art Fair | Edinburgh
2008 | May Five at Five Exhibition | Brighton
2008 | Man in a Box Internationally Nominated Film Cannes | France
2007 | May Visual Dialogues | M.P Birla Millenium Art Gallery | London
2007 | June Group Show |1215 Gallery | Windsor
2007 | July | Blue Moon Gallery | Tunbridge Wells
2007 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2007 | October The Affordable Art Fair | London
2007 | November Manchester Art Show | Manchester
2006 | November The Great Christmas Art Fair | London
2006 | October Affordable Art Fair Battersea | London
2006 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2006 | May Group Show | Blanche House | Brighton
2005 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2005 | November The Ambassador’s Art Prize Nominated | Belgium
2005 | September The Women’s Art Show | Basingstoke
2005 | September conTemporary Gallery Group Show | Hove
2005 | May You are Here Caia Matheson Solo Show | Brighton
2004 | May Pendulodic Group Installation | Sallis Benney Theatre | Brighton
2004 | May The Big Blip Science Art and Technology Festival | Brighton
2004 | May Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses | Brighton
2004 | May Urban Art Trail | Brighton
2004 | May The Rood Screen Exhibition | Brighton
2004 | June Art @ the Brighton Wave | Brighton
2004 | June Art @ the Claremont |Brighton
2004 | June Art @ the Oriental | Brighton
2004 | December Open House Trails | Brighton
2004 | December Artist(e) Exhibition | Brighton Fringe Basement | Brighton
2003 | March Group Show | Tanning Gallery | | Brighton
2003 | May Under The Arches Group show | Brighton
Exhibition List prior to 2003 available on request
EDUCATION
-BTEC Foundation Diploma in Fine Art and 3D Design (Distinction)
Wood Street Campus Barnet London, UK
-A Level Art & History of Art
Lansdowne College Bark Place Kensington London, UK
-O Level Art History of Art and English Language
Ashwell House Study Centre Pembridge Square Notting Hill Gate London UK
-St Andrews School for Girls
Johannesburg South Africa
-International School of the Sacred Heart
Tokyo Japan
Caia Matheson joined Fine Art America on October 29th, 2012.
