Matt Chessco

Matt Chessco is an artist based in Vancouver who quit his job as an industrial designer and mechanical engineer to pursue a career as a painter.

Seven months later, Chessco already had over 1 million followers on TikTok, a waitlist of commissions and multiple brand partnerships.

The artist uses acrylic paints to create pop art-style portraits of celebrities and cultural figures like Tom Hanks, George Floyd and Billie Eilish. But it’s really how Chessco showcases his vibrant, punchy paintings that helped him build his following. While most artists on TikTok merely record themselves while making artwork, Chessco portrays his process differently.

Matt Chessco Marilyn Monroe Painting

Matt Chessco is one of the most famous artists to hail from TikTok to date. The Canada-based artist quit his job as an engineer in early 2020 to pursue a career in art and has quickly amassed a loyal following of fans who tune in to watch the artist create Pop Art-inspired portraits of celebrities past and present.

Chessco uses the audience’s experience of a TikTok video to elevate each of his paintings, creating a process video set to music that is often both humorous and visually satisfying. The result is an artwork that incorporates both painting and performance, instilling Chessco’s work with a depth of entertainment that would stop anyone’s internet scrolling.

Two days. This is the time it took graduate Mathieu Lecours to take up a position as chief engineer, in 2018. Four days. This is the time it took Mathieu Lecours to leave his position as chief engineer, in 2018. "I made the list of pros and cons, and the only thing I wrote in the list of pros is income. »

Letter of resignation in hand, his boss, stunned, asked him what his plans were for the following weeks. "I had no idea. I told him the first thing that came to mind: “I'm going to become an artist.”Surely he thought I was crazy. »

Three years later, the 27-year-old Montrealer at the end of the line answers the name of Matt Chessco, painter and videographer who ignites the social network TikTok. His publications are of interest to more than 2 million subscribers and accumulate almost 50 million "Likes".

His reputation is such that brands — FC Barcelona, for example - snatch orders, American celebrities proudly relay his works and the prestigious New York Times has been interested in his influence.

0:59

Although a video is worth a thousand words here, let's try a sketch of his work: Matt Chessco paints celebrities with acrylic, at the confluence of pop art and pointillism. He takes about ten photos in the process of creation. Then, thanks to a green screen and video rigging, the artist reveals his work in a surreal way, to the rhythm of songs and brushstrokes worthy of a maestro.

3

Average number of days devoted to each video; two to create the canvas, one to finalize the editing. Some works require several weeks.

"When I started making art, I thought, 'O.K., I need to find a way to make interesting and different videos to show the whole world what I'm doing,'" says Matt Chessco.

From photos, he sketched the portrait of Dua Lipa, Cardi B, Justin Bieber, George Floyd, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Taylor Swift or Marilyn Monroe, following in the footsteps of a certain portrait painter from Pittsburgh.

I've always loved Andy Warhol. When I was young, I went to see his exhibition in Montreal [in 2008]. I remember very well what was on display, how it was on display. It had a big impact on me.

Matt Chessco

The painter has always believed in his concept, but his viral potential has taken on the features of Billie Eilish, the subject of his fourth or fifth work posted on TikTok.

0:58

"I had published the video on a Saturday at noon and, by 20 o'clock in the evening, there were 20,000 views. I thought, “She's not good, I'm going to delete her.”But after a discussion with my brother, I decided to leave her there. Within three days, the video reached 15 million views. »

Escape to Vancouver

It was around this time, at the beginning of the year 2020, that Matt Chessco turned his nose up at his loved ones, choosing to devote himself solely to his art. "That's when I really understood that the people who were telling me "Don't do that" were wrong. »

Back in 2018: not only had her boss frowned, but so had her family and best friends. "No one understood why I spent my time creating artwork. The people closest to me were the ones who discouraged me the most from doing it. They wanted me to have financial security. »

At the time, their skepticism was well founded. Certainly, as a child, Mathieu Lecours "fiddled" drawing. True, as a teenager, he "fiddled" with video, bringing Lego to life in frame-by-frame animation (stop motion). True, as an adult, he "fiddled" with painting when the weekend came, "without constraint or goal". But he admits it himself: the young engineer abandoned everything when his plans were abstract like a Pollock painting, and his portfolio looked like a white square on a white background.

In the summer of 2019, tired of getting his feet back on the ground, he flew to Vancouver, where nothing and no one was waiting for him. 4000 km from Montreal, Matt Chessco started painting with discipline and conviction, between two graphic design and web design contracts. After the artist had peered on the side of Instagram, his roommate told him about TikTok, "where people become famous overnight".

For three days, he analyzed the offer of videos "non-stop", and then offered his own. Quickly, his publications were stained with oil, or rather acrylic, with millions of views on the counter.

16 %

Proportion of Matt Chessco's views that come from the United States, compared to 5% from Canada. The other viewings are spread all over the world.

If the social network does not provide him with any income, it has become his main showroom. Facebook Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are also the main channels for the painter.

With his visibility, he sells his original works — for now at a cost of US $ 2000 —, giclées and derivative products. In addition, he accepts orders "to promote songs or products on TikTok".

Since October, Matt Chessco has been back in Montreal. He brought back from Vancouver the most beautiful of memories, which he can proudly show off to his former boss, family and friends: a career as an artist.

In his boxes, collaborations with other TikTok celebrities, including one in preparation with dancer Enola Bédard, exhibitions — the Art Gallery of Ontario has shown its enthusiasm — and the exploitation of new platforms to monetize his art, such as the NFT digital marketplace.

But already, for those who ask, Matt Chessco does not regret at all that he ignored the advice of those around him. First of all because it flourishes, but also thanks to an unpredictable result. "I make a lot more money than if I were still an engineer. »