Matthew Prins (b. 1984) is a visual artist who grew up in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Visual Communication Design from Stellenbosch University. He currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa.
Matthew Prins derives his subject matter from careful observation, responding alternately to mundane domestic arrangements, patterns and conditions in the natural and built environment, or to the marks left by particular medium or process. While casting a wide net thematically, Prins’ vivid sensibility is consistent across his painted and mixed media works. Suburban verges, brimming with rogue plant life, are described in sharp detail and luminous grassy overgrowth springs from dark recesses, bringing an element of magical realism to what might otherwise be seen in passing.
More recent, abstract compositions extend this graphic play through more formal and physical means. Prins applies his experience in design problem solving during the process of developing these larger, looser canvases, which are layered with acrylic, oil and oil stick using successive masking techniques. In each case, the artist’s dramatic colour palette is marked by a sense of lurking instability - something variable, volatile and possibly sublime beneath the worked substrate.