Don Mateo

Don Mateo is a painter who began painting in the streets of Lyon around 2010. He grew up with hip-hop culture and moved to Lyon that year. His first walls were often on the slopes of the Croix-Rousse, in places that were hard to reach.

His first portraits were stencils. Don Mateo projected a photograph with a video projector, transferred it onto paper, painted it and then cut it out to make a template. He then moved on to cut paper, before returning to painting with a brush. Alongside this, he teaches at a secondary school in Lyon.

In November 2013, Don Mateo took part in "Wonderful Wall", a group exhibition against discrimination held on rue des Capucins, in Lyon's 1st arrondissement. In Paris, the gallery Le cabinet d'amateur hung his work in October 2014 in "Lyon hors les murs", alongside Agrume, Big Ben, Cap Phi and Kesa. It then devoted "Far Away" to him, from 4 to 15 November 2015.

In 2021, Don Mateo opened his studio in Couzon-au-Mont-d'Or, north of Lyon. There he paints portraits of women, removing the details he considers superfluous.