Matthew Collings

b. 1955, United Kingdom

 Matthew Collings was born in London in 1955. He studied painting at the Byam Shaw school of art in the 1970s and did the Goldsmiths MA Fine Art Course in the early 1990s. He has written many books including Blimey! From Bohemia to Britpop: The London Artworld from Francis Bacon to Damian Hirst and has written and presented popular TV series like the BAFTA winning This Is Modern Art on Channel 4. As the editor of Artscribe, in the 1980s, Collings was commended by the Turner Prize for transforming this UK based art magazine into an international publication. With his partner Emma Biggs he collaborates on abstract paintings based on colour relationships, which are in collections around the world. Currently, Matthew is working on an illustrated book titled Alternative Art History: What’s happening, why do we have souls, what’s art for?