Stephen’s Works

It has always been difficult for me to know what to say about my work, and I think that is the point; the harder it becomes in knowing what to write or say about a direction of travel in the studio, might reveal that something authentic is potentially emerging; to quote Guston, ‘the only things you can really talk about in painting are impossible to talk about’. The intention has always been for a sense of reflection that captivates something of the complexity of the world, and equally, for the work to remain open and plural, so it feels in a state of becoming that may engage different things to different people. Representations in one form or another come and go in an attempt to self-negotiate the characteristics of memory and experience in our time. What is perceived in the flow and debris is possibly ourselves in this moment. This omnipresence, coupled with a sense of stutter, is continuously emergent, perhaps manifesting itself as a painting within a painting.

The paintings on this website are a sample of work made from 2020 to 2023 whilst I was renovating the farmhouse and building the studios. They are presented seasonally relevant to when they commenced, evolved or began to settle. A new website (stephenswindells.com) features work made since 2023 to the present. There is a little overlap between the websites regarding works made between 2023/24.