Steven Curtis
I was an artist from childhood. I started work in Photography in my early 20s, and ended up in Film School in Chicago in the late 80s. Graduating with a degree in film did not necessarily mean I was in the film industry. Rather, that degree took me other places, specifically within the realm of computers, animation, audio production, and other artistic endeavors. I’ve owned a video production business for awhile, and made mostly corporate style commercials and special FX pieces and animations for clients. But as time has gone on, I’ve come full circle around to the more pure forms of art again, in particular oil paintings, and illustration, and on a very old and prototypical form of substrata; wood.
Since 2014 I’ve produced more than 85 paintings, currently at work at any given time on at least 4 in rotation, allowing for drying while I work with the others. I started large, and have gone more towards medium and small sizes, with plans for larger ones still in the works. I have produced 1 triptych as well, my first and only one so far. I have never been stressed out about being famous, or rich (not many who become artists truthfully believe we will be one or either of these things when we launch into art as a profession, unless we are under some delusion). My motivation is one piece of art at a time and knowing that it accomplishing my goal, which is meaningful impact, or lasting impression if you wish. I hope you, and the rest of the world, in so much as they can be reached with it, will enjoy my art, but also wrestle with it, contemplate it, and be impacted by it. There is a part of me that goes into every piece.
I’ve worked primarily from photos for models and subject matter. They at least stay put for you and the light does not change. I’ve tried Plein Air, and I do like it. That’s the only method of painting that I can reasonably work on canvas. The rest of my work is much more carefully planned and crafted, purposeful, and normally smooth, utilizing a great deal of blending at every stage. Even with multiple layers of paint you can still see the wood grain to some degree, or the strokes of the application of gesso.
But recently, I have added Surrealism to my styles. This wasn't true until I worked on pieces like Oligarch, and today (09/22/22), I have finished a 28x28 piece that is completely from imagination, and also safely within that genre. Title: Slumbertrain.
I create my own frames, or reform choice “found” ones, and so I’ve become quite the woodworker, out of that necessity. Most of my pieces are custom-framed and hand-stained to for color and fit. I have found over time as well that making the frame FIRST for an artwork is a good idea, because it’s so much easier and more precise to create the artwork surface to fit the frame than the other way around.
Much of my work has been the stuff of beauty, serenity, introspection, nature, figures, and portraits. I’m drawn as well to the more enigmatic, personal, confrontational, and illustrative. For instance, “psst, Vladimir”, the recent painting that is mostly an emotional outlet for my angst about the war in Ukraine. Just when we thought we were “through” that old cold war era and bomb shelters and such. It’s been quite awhile since I have seen the once familiar nuclear symbol posted on a building, denoting the sign of a bomb shelter just below it.
I sign my name with my artist’s nom de plume, “Stephen”. My real name is spelled with a “v”, but I have always thought of my artistic self as another person, not as a multi-personality of course, but another “personage” that is special and decisively different than my walking-around self. I hope one of us will get to meet you, frankly the “v” Steven, because he is more engaging than Stephen in regular conversation.
- Stephen
(Steven Curtis, Randolph, WI)
Ha ha....wow, I like this right away! The juxtaposition of an extinct predator with Frank Lloyd Wright chairs straight from the dining room. Awesome. So...it's possibly: 1. FLW furniture is now considered "old hat" 2. The other dinner guest is in for a surprise 3. "Don't freaking sit on these, they're fragile! 4. The Urban Dictionary has defined Artanis as "badass".
Yeah, this is one of those paintings where it really stopped me, and I stared at it for quite a while. It got me. The sense in it spells something impending, while also being completely still. BUT...on further observation, and being more practical about it...it's also probably due to the fact that these are tracks, this is a train station, and there is a clock, plus the bird's head is completely cocked sideways, as if listening for something, or it heard something. The fact that the moon is pretty much "half" revealed by the roof angle...That all spells "anticipation", hence the tension. I'd be willing to buy all of that rather than what I just said, even though what I said about the track direction and triangle and such is true, I believe. And 3:57 is such an odd time, but it is definitely AM, the very center of morning dark, when you would expect a moment of absolutely silence, even at a train station.
Other things I love about it...the fog, the trees, and half moon peeking around that crazy extreme slant of the roof edge.. they are all so convincing, while also being expressed artisically enough to still remain...well "painterly", as that expression goes.
I do love this painting Bruce. I like it enough that I would go so far as to say I'd trade you one of mine for it. You should look through my stuff and see if you like anything that would be of equivalent value. I'm serious.
Speaking also of painting hard lines and angles, and psychological spaces, would you please look at my 2 paintings that are really a "pair", called "Divorce" and "Engagement". I wonder what you think of those. Would love to hear from you.
Another amazing piece, Bruce. The hits just keep on coming!
This one has such depth and the sense of loneliness and abandonment is overwhelming. I think you would normally take something like this for a peaceful scene, but there is a disquiet to it, and I am certain that is intentional. you have a traditional, breaking of the rule of thirds in a balanced way as it should be, and all of the elements are "natural" but the disquiet I believe comes from the fact that the tracks are leading up and to the left. Psychology tells us that at least in this culture… actually, in many cultures, things going from left to right feel natural, however because of the placement of the tracks, there is a sense of traveling up them rather than towards us.
The geometric equivalent of a large triangle with the point of it directly in the center of the left side of the painting, is like a giant sign post that also pushes us left.
I'm not sure if I'm right about this, but that's why this lends the sense of imbalance in a psychological way.
This is really good.
Hey thanks! I'm kind of fond of it too.
I do have quite a few more in the works at the moment. Started a whole new batch of paintings about 2 weeks ago.. 15 of them in rotation on my drying racks. I'll be posting a great deal in a couple weeks.
Like the texture and the colors in this one.
Sorry for your loss. Lost my dog Teddy not too long ago. I know.
Fantastic, moody rendition of that mood.
Your use of light here and color is very intuitive and immediately meaningful. The bright colors around the clown's head is a great use of irony as the white head seems to pop out and deny that the color exists, the head also being very solid vs. the scattering of the colors not having a real attachment, looking as if though they made fade or drop off at any moment, or a breeze. The deep shadows plus the body posture is perfectly rendered. In particular, the elongated hand hanging pulls us down even farther, as if gravity were X2.
A very effectual piece.
Right, exactly. That's why I put my sarcastic disclaimer there at the end. :) And I did get that, what your painting was actually about, and that's why I said what I did...because people generally don't see the big picture. Got it.
Sure thing, thank you!
Ha ha, yes, well thanks for that, but it's the Altamira platform that will not allow a "no price" amount, so if you want something on here to not be for sale, then you have to put at least one dollar as an amount. You can't just put NFS, not for sale. They don't have that choice. Why? DK. Changes are slow sometimes.
But thank you nonetheless!
I am simply dying to give someone some online lessons, practically for free. Do you know anyone that is interested?
Sorry, I believe the expression is pointedly an idiom that is really an admonition from one person to another to "wake up", or "stop being disillusioned", and it's properly worded this way:
"You can't see the forest FOR the trees". Meaning literally, "You're missing the big picture/larger picture because you are concentrating on the details of each individual part."
It's meant to also be a dig at nitpickers who can't get past their petty grievances or issues that are small in comparison to a larger problem.
Yeah Bruce, maybe odd, but also balanced, a great example of how to break the rule of 3rds completely without actually breaking it. But mostly, this is an "invitation" to the doorway, and the mysterious dark that makes it odd, because there is a light on the floor whose source is not really revealed. We are allowed to guess. I guess "moon", but it could be a porch light just as well as it seems it might be a patio. Lovely tones and the colors are perfectly rich enough for the scene, not overdone, yet everywhere. It's a contemplative piece, because it puts the viewer right into the scene with it's POV, and it feels like one of those nighttime moments when at the end of the day you're left staring at nothing in particular, leaning forward, your hands folded between your knees, and there is the sound of the clock, or the music gently playing that your significant other/s have asked you to turn down twice now until it's almost inaudible.
John, thanks for the overflowing kind words. This hangs in our dining room, and almost never fails to make me hungry. It's quite large and fills the wall space perfectly over a linen hutch.
This is yet another example though of how a photograph can manipulate me, the artist. This is actually the way the photo looked as far as all of the foreground elements that are in focus. However, I noticed how large the honey dipper is as compared with the jar, and how out of proportion it seems, like I made the dipper larger on purpose to show it off or something. But in reality, that's exactly what the photograph looked like. So I'd have to say it's a small jar then. I mean look at the size of the clover. If you know how small those are, then it comes in to focus how this jar could be that size. And yes, I was very tempted to put a thumb and fingers holding the dipper's handle, but thought better of it.
Although I have to say as well, that this painting, like so many of mine, is derived from quite a few hours of collecting the most interesting and striking photography from the internet, winnowing through them, looking at them for a long time, and making decisions on what to paint from them. Many I take only an element from, or the basic idea from, but this one is almost exactly like the photograph, except there were other people in the distance shopping. It was a wise decision to take them all out in order to create the mood I saw in this man's stance.
What's also unusual about this, is that I normally find the photographer and get permission to paint their photograph. In this case, I could never find that person. It seemed to have a dead end trail on where it came from. But I felt compelled to paint it. It's also one of my earliest works. If anyone knows the photographer on this one, I'd be glad to know as well.
Although I have to say as well, that this painting, like so many of mine, is derived from quite a few hours of collecting the most interesting and striking photography from the internet, winnowing through them, looking at them for a long time, and making decisions on what to paint from them. Many I take only an element from, or the basic idea from, but this one is almost exactly like the photograph, except there were other people in the distance shopping. It was a wise decision to take them all out in order to create the mood I saw in this man's stance.
What's also unusual about this, is that I normally find the photographer and get permission to paint their photograph. In this case, I could never find that person. It seemed to have a dead end trail on where it came from. But I felt compelled to paint it. It's also one of my earliest works. If anyone knows the photographer on this one, I'd be glad to know as well.
John, you hit this one exactly. Love your review, thank you! It's also one of my family's favorite works.
Ok, 2nd painting of yours I have to comment on today. I guess I am a new fan then. Your work, so much of it is cheery and delightful, like you said of this one. I have to tell you, I am not generally a fan, or a creator of the abstract, although I've been leaning more into the surreal lately. But YOUR stuff is a new exception. I love your work! - Stephen
All of your work is whimsical, bright, balanced, and eye-pleasing, as well as immediately accessible. Some might say that's a bad thing, or it lacks this mysteriously tossed-about term "depth". I think that people that toss around that term use it because they don't know what else to say. Your stuff has "depth" as well. This piece in particular has multiple layers of complexity, yet it's harmonious. I love the interplay of the color gradations from light to dark in every layer, and how they kind of dance off of one another. My first thought was "hey Merrily is a perfect name for this one".
This impressed me with what I thought of as "subtle intensity". And it kind of seems like an orchid that is unraveling. Very nice use of color. Eye pleasing.
This is gorgeous. I love the vibrant color background and the somewhat "opposing" color palette of the figures, being monochromatic. You have a very fine mastery of shadow, and detailed work that shows realistic depth. Great.
I also have to add that I haven't really painted anything since April, so it feels like I'm back at it again, with several more complex works planned. Happy to have this one out though.