I seldom do reviews of artists, sometimes books, at times music. But I can’t pass this one up. A versatile and chameleon-like artist who’s art name is not the same as his real name, which is common, like myself. Is it to avoid the public eye? Most likely not wishing to be harassed, or inundated with spam and phishing.
Is it not in all of us a desire to find our “people”, our true tribe? For the artist, this means audience.
But the images of this artist are not to be dismissed. I have found Stephen’s work to be prominently mysterious. The art is not overworked or laborious, light and almost with a primitive nature, while also being well-trained in composition and purposeful in disguise. Beauty seems to be the theme, as he has said, but I detect a sadness there as well. Depression? Injustice? Struggle, at best.
Steven Curtis, as it turns out, is a real person, and did indeed grow up in Illinois. Turns out I’m right about his troubled past, as there are records of his misdeeds as a young man, and a dramatic turnaround in his life. He’s “been an artist since childhood” is correct (from his own artist statement), and that is where many of his works lead us…back to childhood.
I want to examine here, for the sake of intrigue more than anything else, a couple of his pieces, but you really MUST visit his home-made website and see the gallery. I am going to make inquiries as to how to see these works in real life by using his contact form and seeing what I come up with. But the trip looks like it’s going to lead me to some place near Madison WI, an unlikely art destination. The State of Wisconsin is shamefully at the very bottom in art funding per capita, at only 18 cents, while right next door, for instance, Minnesota spends just under $10 per head! Well, so much for that. Stephen, the artist, possibly needs to have his art relocated?
Not one of his works are even hinting at AI, although the realism of some of the works would lead one to 2nd guess that. His genuine approach is innocently portrayed, but also filled with willful purpose, drawing the viewer in and beyond for lasting impressions. Stephen is careful it seems to keep it serious, even in this piece directly above titled, “What Elephant?” A take on the old expression “Elephant in the room”.
He has left us hanging on our own here to discover what that Elephant might be with this group of people. There seems to be no single focus here that would give away the family secret, whatever it is. The design is accusatory however, in that most of the gaze is directly upon us, the audience, except for the boy on the rug. Ah! Youth and their inability to beguile at times. At least he suspects something is “off” about the scene. So does the dog, which displays something more like caution. And so we can easily place ourselves into the characters here and come up with our own Elephant as transmutated conscience. The bent walls and tension are almost palpable. There is also a great deal of difference in style between the Elephant, and the human figures. They seem to be rather like figures in a Magritte painting, while the elephant stands in full relief and detail. So it’s reality vs. the stick figure, a spot on interpretation of the subject matter at hand.
In “Walter’s Windows” (above) we have the almost universally recognizable figure of Walter White, from the TV series Breaking Bad. About as unreal as reality can get, this larger than life gaze through an old window that could be intimidating, but more like pleading, dripping with a captured sadness, is really an imprisonment of the character. In Stephen’s surrealism, we find this theme of enclosure, even in his framing, to seem almost suffocating. It’s as if the artist himself wishes to escape his turmoil and be free.
For the most part of Curtis’ work, the larger part of it all, I see that he is most likely pandering to what the perceived art market may be, because the intensity of some of his works is lacking in personality, in the pieces that are simply “illustrative”. Great art, yes, but not as personal. You’ll have to visit the website gallery to see what I mean. So, like many artist, the great pieces are derived from experience and the inner life, while at times the “market” shapes the artist’s vision, in hopes of a sale.
Loss, loneliness, pain, and religion all inhabit the works that really count in Stephen’s gallery. Pay a visit, and see if you can tell which paintings of his belong in that company. The illustrative works of refined beauty are skillfully rendered, and would be great to own, yes, but the real artist shows up in the others. Stephen, I hope to meet you. If you’re reading this, my hope is that more “personal” works will come to fruition, because that is truly in the long run your strength.
Have a look, enjoy your stay there:
- Agitatus
- Agitatus
