Urban Air Critters
In this series, ordinary insects are reborn as streetwise misfits—armoured in colour, attitude, and the raw pulse of graffiti culture. Each bug becomes a character with swagger: wings buzzing like spray cans, shells catching neon light, and expressions that feel lifted straight from the back alleys of Matte’s imagination.
What began as a playful collision between hyperreal airbrushing and urban mark‑making evolved into a signature visual language—one bold enough to land Matte a national railway commission, where these creatures crawled out of the sketchbook and onto the walls of Brighton Station in 2017. These aren’t just bugs; they’re tiny rebels carrying the spirit of street art on their backs.
Snaily
Snaily Original Painting - Acrylics on canvas - 3.4m x 1.4m approx.
A colossal snail draped in neon graffiti crawls through a void of glowing blue droplets, its cracked porcelain‑like body and smiling eyestalks blending urban grit with dreamlike whimsy. The work reflects on how living forms become canvases for human expression, suggesting a playful tension between organic vulnerability and the bold, chaotic imprint of contemporary street culture.
Pinhead Caterpillar
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Pinhead Caterpillar Original Painting - Acrylics on canvas - 1400mm x 800mm approx.
A teal, clawed caterpillar sprawls across a stem, its segmented body doubling as a billboard for a red‑faced, button‑eyed skater and the bold, graffiti‑styled word PINHEAD. The piece fuses mutation and subculture, suggesting how identity can be both worn and performed, turning the creature into a living emblem of rebellious self‑expression.
Calligraphy Caterpillar
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Calligraphy Caterpillar Original Painting - Acrylics on canvas - 1400mm x 800mm approx.
A caterpillar with alternating red and green segments stretches across a leaf, its body marked with intricate calligraphic patterns that pulse with graphic intensity. The work transforms a familiar creature into a living script, suggesting how nature itself can read as coded language—vibrant, enigmatic, and open to interpretation.
Calligraffiti
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Calligraffiti Original Painting - Acrylics on canvas - 1600mm x 800mm approx.
A bright green caterpillar arches along a branch, its body overlaid with bold purple graffiti that cuts sharply against its natural form. The piece stages a collision between biological precision and urban mark‑making, suggesting how human expression rewrites even the most intricate structures of the natural world.
Snotty Gobble Butterfly
Snotty Gobble Butterfly Original Painting - Acrylics on canvas - 1600mm x 800mm approx.
A butterfly perched on a yellow bloom reveals wings transformed into a vivid canvas of orange and purple stripes, overlaid with a cartoonish face and the dripping green tag SNOTTY GOBBLE. The work playfully disrupts natural elegance with street‑art irreverence, suggesting how identity can mutate when the organic becomes a site for bold, subcultural storytelling.
Train Station Snail
Train station snail was a commission piece for the Brighton train stop
Train Station Blue Tongue Lizard
Train station Murals were a commission piece for the Brighton train stop
Train Station Banjo Frog
Train station Murals were a commission piece for the Brighton train stop
Train Station Butterfly
Train station Murals were a commission piece for the Brighton train stop
Train Station Leopard Slug
Train station Murals were a commission piece for the Brighton train stop
Train Station Blue Banded Bee
Train station Murals were a commission piece for the Brighton train stop
Train Station Yellow Bellied Skink
Train station Murals were a commission piece for the Brighton train stop
Train Station Caterpillar
