"Optimism is the Vital Force that entangles itself with and then Shapes the Future."

Matthew Stone has always wanted to make religious paintings, while also looking to disrupt the holy status of paint as the 'cosmic flesh' of art history. A continuous thread of bodies and painting, together and in motion, flows through everything he creates.

These "religious paintings" have taken various forms, from photographs of friends that read like Carravaggio, to mystic nightclub performances that felt like modern ceremonies. His printed abstract paintings of digitised gestural brushstrokes look like dance. Culminating from years of experiments, since 2015, his figurative works wrap paint around digital avatars.