SEVEN (born Matt Ryan) is a New York City native and self-taught artist whose work is heavily influenced by early 1990s hip-hop culture and his childhood spent in the melting pot. He has always found beauty in the neglected and unconventional, which, consequently, is often his subject of focus. He recasts these uneasy truths with a more appealing palette, while still aligning with their reality of anguish. He tends to work with a realistic or semi-realistic approach, often incorporating eccentric aspects to attain a tension of surreal, spatial ambiguity, but also to strike the viewer with emotion and mystery. Aside from his paintings, SEVEN’s interdisciplinary practice branches into collage, digital media, and street art in an array of styles.