MAT (left) and ZEKKY (right) at the DEKA exhibition – Salle de la Station, Cloître de l'Abbaye Saint-Martin, City of Laon. Photo credit © Romain Berthiot
MAT x ZEKKY : The Myth and the Spirit
MAT x ZEKKY (1981 and 1984) have formed an urban and contemporary art duo since 2016, in residence at La Fileuse, an artistic wasteland of the City of Reims. It is within this vast complex, equipped with a materials library rich in old Louvre magazines, encyclopedias, and industrial material scraps, that they initiated in 2020, during the lockdown, a work of writing (The mythological autofiction The Coalition of Invulnerability - The Book Edition, 176 pages) and collage, subsequently transposed onto four-handed painted canvases.
The development of their artistic and technical approach later led them to create mural and monumental works in several cities in France, such as "Altius", labeled a "cultural olympiad" by the 2024 Olympic Games committee, or in Belgrade as part of the BJ Open Air Gallery.
MAT x ZEKKY were also selected to be part of the first collective exhibition of urban art "We Are Here" at the Petit Palais in Paris (June 12, 2024 > January 19, 2025) thanks to the partnership between the Taglialatella Gallery and the Itinérance Gallery, and were also invited to exhibit their works at the Tuscolano Museum in Frascati, Italy, alongside other prestigious artists in July 2025 via the Chroma Mandrione Gallery.
Artistic approach
In a constantly changing world, art has an essential role: to connect, to question, and to inspire. The universe of MAT x ZEKKY offers a singular approach, drawing from the timeless sources of mythology to create works that resonate with our era. Mythological narratives, far from being mere relics of the past, are vectors of universal messages that cross cultures and millennia. Myths have always reminded us that chaos is an integral part of existence, with deities regularly disrupting the world of mortals, inviting them to demonstrate resilience in their daily lives. The work of MAT x ZEKKY is part of this deep understanding of what it means to live in a world made of antagonisms, struggles, and daily challenges. It is within this lineage that the duo's approach is rooted: their statues, serene in appearance, are not there to deny the chaos of the modern world, to contain it, to erase it, or even to absorb it. They accept that there is no beauty without flaws, no destiny without a fall, no creation without a crisis. Their aesthetic thus dialogues with this ancient memory: that of founding narratives where tumult is not a problem to be solved but a necessary passage, since it is the raw material of humanity. And it is precisely in the cracks that the light lodges: that of the fulfillment of a stronger, more authentic, more necessary truth. MAT x ZEKKY cast a singular, lucid, and deeply human gaze on this tension between impassivity and rumbling, between human vulnerability and the apparent invulnerability of stone. Their works, populated by frozen statues, embody a central paradox: they represent neither savior nor vengeful deities, but the symbol of a necessary resilience in a world naturally and perpetually in evolution. The works of MAT x ZEKKY invite us to this silent but essential meditation: that of grounding, of calm in the middle of the storm, and of the role that everyone can play by casting a more clear-sighted gaze on today's world in order to produce a nobler material to think, to feel, and to share.
A word from the artists
« We see our artistic productions the way Stephen King sees the plots of his books: "relics from a pre-existing, still unknown world". Our work as artists then consists of using our "toolbox" to dig them out of the ground. We have to locate the fossil (the idea, the material) and extract it delicately. Until its complete extraction, we do not yet know the final result. »
MAT x ZEKKY
« Their artworks bear the traces of choices, renunciations, and adjustments, like an act of poetic resilience. [...] To create today is to work within uncertainty, to accept vulnerability as a method. What Mat x Zekky present is not a response to collapse, but a way of standing firm within it: by keeping forms, meanings, and possibilities wide open. »
URBAN ARTS Magazine – March–April 2026
« This artistic couple has developed an original, collaborative way of working. In the vein of Surrealist exquisite corpses, one begins and the other responds, resulting in unique works where techniques, materials, and even expressions merge to tell stories through both words and images. Drawing inspiration from sources such as the Louvre journals, they have embarked on a quest reminiscent of mythical heroes » URBAN ARTS Magazine – May 2021
« And from their introspective work sessions, they soon give birth to a story of universal value. The alchemy of creation has taken hold. […] They exchange perspectives, react, and reflect, and this creative "ping-pong" reveals an unexpected truth: they are one! » ALEA JACTA EST, Aurélie Taupin – November 2021.
MAT x ZEKKY have been in an artistic residency at Fileuse, the City of Reims' art wasteland since January 2019 and were awarded the Prisme Patrons' Club grant that same year. In 2021, the duo was also a finalist for the Pébéo Prize.
In 2024, their work was selected for the exhibition WE ARE HEREat the MUSEUM OF LE PETIT PALAIS in Paris, —the first international collective exhibition of urban art, held in partnership with Galerie Itinérrance and Galerie Taglialatella.
In 2022, under their leadership, the association
Le Mur de Reims ewas founded, joining the network of "Murs" (The Walls) across France, Belgium, and Luxembourg—an initiative started in 2003 by le Mur Oberkampf.
One Duo: Two Pillars of Strength
Their work rests on a rare balance. MAT (Marjorie Tocqueville), art director and curator of "Le MUR de Reims," is the architect of their visual and scenographic coherence, bringing her mastery of Fine Arts techniques and spatial design. ZEKKY (Maryline Mathevet), trained in semiotics and project management with multiple higher education degrees, infuses their work with a more analytical and narrative structure. From her passion for writing emerged their mythological autofiction, "The Coalition of Invulnerability"—an intimate odyssey that summons, in a single momentum, the full combative, visual, and narrative richness of the duo.