Peter Matthews (artist)

He works with art materials hiked into the landscape, strapped about his person, hidden in caches along the coast and using found objects on the beach.

He has been identified as being part of a long English tradition of maritime art, whilst his abstract style has been compared to that of American expressionist Jasper Johns.

Big grey seals often pop up," says Matthews, who has been working for years around the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, wild-camping on the cliffs near Coverack.

[8] Problems Matthews personally faces are those of his environment[3]—he has suffered numbness,[1] hypothermia and sunstroke, as well as receiving dog-, snake-, jellyfish- and insect-bites.

"[1] To get himself in the mindset to create the piece entitled With the Forces of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Matthews constructed a speaker system out of a CD player and a tripod.

[1] Matthews has exhibited internationally since 2003 after graduating with an MA in Fine Art from the Nottingham Trent University, with sale prices in the Saatchi Gallery reaching thousands of pounds.

He has shown his work in group exhibitions with artists such as Richard Long, Anselm Kiefer, Giuseppe Penone, Ana Mendieta, Bill Viola, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and many others.

[5] Matthews' style has been compared—in its "scratchy, abstract" nature—with the work of Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns, but with a greater degree of stream of consciousness, often bordering "the brilliant and the ridiculous.

"[7] The University of California, San Diego has used Matthews work as an example of how popular interest in subjects such as marine biology and maritime history can be developed and encouraged.