MGJLawrence

Hello! I'm a 32 yr old British painter brought up in northern parts of the UK from Grimsby to Glasgow, acquiring a Fine Art degree in Dundee before heading down to London where I've spent the last 10+ years homing my craft in all realms of the painting world. Hustling with my brushes decorating homes, vehicles, boats, exterior walls, clothes, shoes, accessories, instruments, sculpture statues you name it. Amongst all of these avenues I am primarily at heart an oil painter, mostly on stretched canvas and sometimes panel board. Gaining this wide range experience has aided me in entering the world of film and photography as set designer and creator, I have designed and painted many large scale backgrounds for high end fashion shoots, music films and alternative hair awards, some credits include industry leading names such as Jean Paul Gaultier where I created the set for their latest perfume La Belle Le Perfum, and artwork for latest album release by Blue Lab Beats, Motherland Journey, seen on billboards across East London. The subject for my artwork in oils has varied from expressive emotion and the depths of the subconscious, to most recently where I'm focusing more on the human figure, specifically strong, empowering females and androgynous gender fluid people. Artist Statement: Matthew’s approach to creating is centred on the release of emotional energy. Focusing on movement in the body his works have an expressively moody quality bouncing between mediums of oil paint and charcoal. Such tools enable the artist to embark on a visual journey of multiple imagery in a quick ‘on and off’ method of application and subtraction. This allows Matthew to reach a state of mind where freedom overrules self-critique, before and during focus on his subject. The strong and empowering female figure has played a significant role as subject matter in inspiring and motivating Matthew’s artwork. Matthew is also a Co-Founder of Drawing Cabaret Couture with agency model and professional dancer Janet Mayer. Drawing Cabaret Couture holds high end fashion and cabaret-based life drawing classes in London. From life drawing classes to luxurious events with stunning performances, live music and elaborate set design. Majority of their inspiration comes from pioneering designers such as Thierry Mugler, Alexander Mcqueen and Jean-Paul Gaultier, as well as imaginarily creative and surreal photographers such as Tim Walker. Always aiming to push boundaries and go one step further in pursuit of creating unforgettable experiences to draw from.