ABOUT THE ARTIST
Caia Matheson is a Contemporary Oil Painter and currently lives and works in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Her work features layered colorful abstracts and figures that continually reference themes of antimony or contradiction such as light/dark, stillness/movement, the visible and invisible.
Matheson was born in Johannesburg, South Africa where she would delight in nature and the wild animals of Kruger National Park. Being raised by a Xhosa nanny and gardener from the Zulu tribe both living on the property, her youth was filled with tribal stories and cultural rituals.
At age 7 she emigrated with her family to Tokyo, Japan to attend an International School. The contrast of cultures as well as the rural versus city locations began her fascination with contradictions and paradoxes. Spending her formative years in Tokyo, she would still visit South Africa on a yearly basis.
On one such visit to Joubert Park in Johannesburg, her mother shared the story of racial segregation illustrated by the black and white painted benches in the park - an absurdity that would begin the emblematic nature of color in the young artist's mind.
On multiple journeys, Matheson visited various Asian countries, discovering unfamiliar and exotic places in Thailand, Singapore, the Seychelles, and around Japan - memories that she began to recall in shapes and lines for her artworks.
Returning to Johannesburg at the height of Apartheid, aged 14 she attended school taking part in the 1985 Free Nelson Mandela Rally at Witts University before emigrating to London at 16, where she attended Lansdowne college completing A levels in Arts and Languages.
Losing her mother at an early age due to illness, Matheson would be prompted to work for the Japan Travel Bureau, later transferring to All Nippon Airways and Fuji Bank, then as a Production Manager for Designer Originals and freelancing as Event Manager for Arts and Music Festivals and Events. Leaving work after a couple of years, she would travel around Holland and Spain and live in an isolated hippie community, before returning to London to focus on her journey towards becoming an artist.
After having worked in several creative industries including Fashion, Music, Set Design and Event Management, Matheson received a Distinction in 3D Art & Design at Barnet College in 1994. Whilst curating multimedia art exhibitions in London and creating stage sets for bands, she spent a few years developing her style in her studio in Hackney, East London.
Moving to Brighton in 2002 and setting up a studio, Matheson was awarded Brighton Artist of the Year by public vote at Art5 Gallery in 2004, where her sold-out solo show was held later that year.
Exhibiting widely in the UK as well as Internationally in Art Fairs (AAF, London and Singapore, TOAF, LAPADA), Matheson was also shortlisted for the Brighton Festival Arts Prize (2006), and her solo exhibition was featured in the BBC spy drama ‘Page Eight’ (2011). Her painting “Forest Fire” was selected for Neil Gaiman’s book “A Calendar of Tales” (2013). She also painted Europe’s first Rainbow Pedestrian Crossing on Madeira Drive, Brighton (2014).
Recent exhibitions in London include “Dark Materials Tell Stories” at JM Gallery 2024 (curated by Artful Dodger), FLUX Exhibition Marylebone in July 2024,FLUX Exhibition Piccadilly in 2023, FLUX Exhibition Design District in 2021 and 2022, (curated by Lisa Gray) as well as the “Women in Art Exhibition” at Gallery Elena Shchukina in Mayfair 2018.
Caia Matheson has been a professional artist for over 25 years, actively exhibiting in the UK and worldwide. She is also engaged in various private commissions and mentoring Uni students at the MET College, Brighton.
