By layering new imagery onto antique oil paintings, Stephenson is continuously working to build upon stories and perspectives in his work, as though he is simultaneously “DJ-ing” with each of the paintings themselves.
Artist Paul Stephenson returns for his third solo exhibition at StolenSpace Gallery entitled ‘Search History' offering a new look at artistic collaboration across time and space.
Stephenson’s practice centres around working on original works of art by other artists. Most often this involves superimposing candid imagery directly onto antique oil paintings. By layering and juxtaposing these contemporary images onto old, Stephenson is continuously working to build upon stories and perspectives in his work, as though he is simultaneously “DJ-ing” with each of the paintings themselves.
The identity of the first artist of the oil paintings is always known and this allows a form of collaboration or dialogue between Stephenson and the original artist, and with the oil painting itself which stands in for the original artist acting as a quasi-persona. The combination of the photographic and oil painting in the work constructs dialogues between the two images as the viewer’s eye waivers between them.
Unlike other artworks that ‘disrupt’ existing works, Stephenson is not serving up one liners, or characters that intrude into the world of the poster/oil painting. Instead, the combination is of two fully autonomous images, materials and visual planes vying for primacy. This opens up an uneasy space between them that is inherently liminal.
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