Darryl Matthews (b. 1962, Newark, NJ) found an early refuge in art, drawing his first inspiration from the comic books he loved. Trained at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, he is best known for highly detailed paintings of sports figures and musical artists - works that build narratives about American culture and offer a lens on the nation's complex history.

Over a career spanning four decades, Matthews has worked as a storyboard artist, children's book illustrator, portrait artist, live event artist, and private art instructor, moving through art communities in New Jersey and California before settling in North Carolina, where he lives and works today.

His paintings are held in public, corporate, and private collections including the Muhammad Ali Center (Louisville, KY), the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (Kansas City, MO), the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, and KUSI-TV. Admitted to the La Jolla Art Society in 1998 in recognition of his sports illustrations, Matthews was commissioned in 2022 by the Buck Leonard Association to create seven original watercolor portraits of baseball legends - Martin Dihigo, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Buck O'Neil, Tony Perez, Joe Staton, and Ben Taylor - now on permanent display in the Buck Leonard First Baseman's Hall of Fame at the Imperial Centre for the Arts & Sciences in Rocky Mount, NC.