Who is Matias Machado ?

Originally from Bordeaux, Matias Machado first discovered art through graffiti , a raw, instinctive practice that shaped his deep connection to gesture , using walls as his canvas and color as his voice. This early experience shaped his raw, instinctive, and spontaneous approach to painting. The freedom of gesture, the rhythm of movement, and the dialogue between control and chaos continue to influence his current work on canvas, where traces of that urban energy still breathe beneath the layers of paint.

After joining the Beaux-Arts of Bordeaux (EBABX) in 2013, Machado’s work evolved from street-based expression to a more complex and layered visual language. His studio practice merges abstract expressionism, contemporary cubism, and a strong sense of intuitive composition. Yet, beneath this sophistication lies something deeply human: a deliberate return to the naïve, spontaneous, almost childlike impulse of drawing.

The “childlike” style that characterizes his recent works is not a regression but a reclamation of innocence ,an act of resistance against over-intellectualization. By embracing imperfection and spontaneity, Machado reconnects painting with its most essential dimension: the joy of creating freely.

Now based in Europe and exhibiting regularly in Paris, Matias Machado continues to develop a body of work that vibrates between abstraction and figuration, chaos and order, instinct and reflection. His paintings invite viewers to rediscover the beauty of the imperfect, a visual world where energy, emotion, and honesty take precedence over rules.

In Machado’s paintings, color and line move with instinct rather than precision. His figures are fragmented, distorted, or reassembled , echoing the freedom of a child’s first marks on paper. What might appear as a “child’s drawing” is, in fact, a conscious search for authenticity: an attempt to unlearn control, to strip painting down to its emotional core.

Through this process, Machado transforms visual chaos into structure. His use of oil, acrylic, spray paint, and oil pastels allows multiple layers to coexist , violent gestures beside tender traces, heavy impastos alongside transparent washes. Each work becomes a playground of emotion and contradiction, where vulnerability meets vitality.