Matthew Radford was born in London in 1953. He is known for his figure and street scene paintings and graphics. Between 1971 to 1974 he attended Camberwell School of Arts and then studied painting with Leon Kossoff and Ewan Uglow.

He has received a number of important accolades including; Jeffrey Archer Prize for painting in 1981, and an award from the Greater London Council in 1983. Since the start of his career Radford has worked in Rome, Florence, New York and London.

Radford has exhibited widely and has shown at galleries worldwide, including the Hayward and Tate St Ives in the UK, the Drawing Center in New York and the Cat Street Gallery in Hong Kong, and has also had solo shows in Los Angeles, New York, California, and Germany.