After 20 years of painting in the streets around the world, Mateo has studied and used the art of ornamentation in most of his works, from walls to ceramics, fabrics and rugs, pattern blend into the paintings creating a cohesive bridge between his street and gallery work. 

Mateo has always been captivated by the power of transcribing emotion or thought into an image. For him, creative activities are essential for personal growth and development. At 23, he earned a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Toulouse and wrote a thesis on ‘’Perception and our 5 Senses’’ before moving to Montreal., where he specialised in graphics design and art direction. He worked for four years for major brands such as Ubisoft, Cirque du Soleil and SidLee, before choosing to avoid any commercial work. In parallel, he freely developed his artistic style on the streets. 

In 2015, during an artist residency in Barcelona, he became interested in traditional ceramic tiles that are seen everywhere in Spain and Portugal. He began incorporating these designs into his street murals, marking the beginning of the integration of traditional crafts into his work. Similar to carpets, ceramic tiles are used to decorate the floors of houses, and Mateo transposed them onto the walls of the city. 

In the city, Mateo’s inspiration adorns wall with ethnic patterns and vivid, contrasting portraits. In his studio, the artist experiments with different materials and supports, until one day, he paints on a carpet - an unimaginable support for a painter. He imagine the symmetry of a face that reflected in the symmetry of the carpet. His first artwork on a carpet was displayed at the Mural Art Fair in Montreal in 2017. With his alternative spirit, Mateo found a way to hang his artwork on an unused wall of the fair, without being represented by any galleries, and the artwork had an astonish effect on the audience and galleries. In the following days, Mateo was inundated with proposals from galleries who wanted to exhibit his work. It was the moment for him to enter the art world. THE ART OF MATEO IS AT THE FRONTIER OF URBAN ART & ANCIENT CULTURES. QUESTIONING THE PERCEPTION IG TRADITIONAL CRAFT IN OUR CONTEMPORARY SOCIETIES.