Born in 1982 in Paris, Mathieu Cherkit lives and works in Vallery, France.
Mathieu Cherkit is a major figure of the emerging French generation of figurative painters now exhibited internationally. The inspiration for his works comes mainly from the house where he lives. With one floor and a garden that he cultivates, his residence there serves as a pretext to explore multiple subjects, embodied by trinkets, childhood memories, his recent paternity, or even art works that surround him. It also allows him to approach the subject of painting itself and its power to dismiss realism in order to describe a personal universe.
In his colorful works, loaded with oil paint which spills over from the stretcher, Mathieu Cherkit thwarts the principles of central perspective. He mixes viewpoints with the aim of creating different spaces and temporalities and bringing to life the architecture and the objects that he lives with.
Mathieu Cherkit is a finalist of Jean-François Prat Prize, as well as of the Science-Po Prize for contemporary art and Antoine Marin Prize.
Public collections: Fondation Salomon, Alex, France, Musée des Avelines, Saint-Cloud, France, CNAP. Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris, France Fondation Colas, Paris, France, Caldic Collection/ Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands.
