Primarily a painter, Small has a strong, compelling style, often choosing discarded objects like car bonnets or old signs instead of canvas for his work. “The theme of my work is young, dispossessed people: individuals who feel undervalued, who don’t have a voice, who get looked over.” Small explains how the urban debris he paints on becomes symbolic of the feeling of being without value: “I thought it’d be interesting to connect the two – that oven door, that shelving unit, that piece of trash to someone – I don’t see it like that, I see that it can be something beautiful and worthwhile. That’s how I see our young people too. Let’s look at their potential, at the hope that’s in all of them.

Small has many solo central London exhibitions to his name and has won the Villiers David Art Prize and been nominated for the BP Portrait Award. In 2020 the FA commissioned Matt Small to paint all 27 squad members of the men's squad going into the European Championship.
www.matthew-small.com
@matt_small_art