1970 BORN IN HONOLULU, HAWAII. CURRENTLY LIVES & WORKS IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS.
Eric K Stevens spent his formative years in Hawaii, where the natural beauty of the islands had a sublime and profound influence that he still feels today. After a career in graphic design and illustration, he turned his attention entirely to painting while living in Prague from 2002 to 2005. This was a significant time, allowing him to pursue his passion completely and gain invaluable exposure to the arts landscape of many different cultures while traveling throughout Europe. He has called Fort Worth home since 2005. His works can be found in private and corporate collections nationally and internationally.
“I am interested in the relationships between complex detail and simple composition, classical rendering of form and modern reduction. I think there is an interesting tension there.”
“A lot of my work describes simple organic forms, like flowers. These paintings often use vibrant true-to-life color to depict the subjects, while their settings take the subjects out of their expected contexts. The perspective and scale furthers this, isolating the subject, and bringing the viewer closer.”
“My current works include a series of landscapes. These are executed with a distanced
perspective, a cool and subdued palette, and a sense of emptiness. The specific geographic locations chosen as subjects for these range from the American Southwest to Central Europe to Mediterranean islands, but are almost incidental in the finished product. The idea of capturing some of these locations in this way had been banging around in my head for a while, but it was reading Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road and Umberto Eco's Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana that was a prime incentive for me realizing this series of paintings.”
“For me the painting of landscapes, this kind of subject in this way, was a major growing-period. Most of what I had been working on up until this point shared a visual sensibility, and here was a chance to do something completely new. I knew I wanted to incorporate landscape paintings into my body of work, even though it seemed stylistically to me to be a huge leap. I started by plotting out what visual language was needed to best depict what I wanted to do with landscapes. There were some cues from art history that were a factor, and some things from experiencing Nature firsthand; Inspiration comes to us in many ways. ”
“Developing another set of visual rules to work with is almost like using another language, with it's own strengths and weaknesses, it's own character.”
“Each painting, or series of paintings, has to obey a set of rules, like a formula. I'll come up with a subject, and also determine the best formula for executing the piece. Things like pallete, the use of reference images, compositioning, visual factors, canvas size and shape, length of time used for completion; all these things can be effected. For me it's part of the creative process. How I paint is just as important to me as what I paint. A formula must be decided upon for the subject at hand. You can see the shifting of formulae between the different subjects I paint: I paint landscapes very differently than florals, for example. Sometimes inspiration for the formula I will use comes from a piece of artwork, something that has nothing to do with what I intend to do, and usually it's not a painting. Other times it is more conceptual, a feeling, or an atmospheric thing like the air and the lighting. All these things help set up the rules that control the process. ”
"Eric Stevens's land- and sea-scapes seem to trail grace, mirroring inner states of quietude and revelation. His White Gladiolas are so very finely observed and rendered. To paraphrase Banville, they blush beneath the intensity of your gaze and give up their secrets. I'm happy to return again to his work and admire the sanctity of the natural world suffusing everything truly seen."
- Yahia Lababidi, Poet
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 “VIRTUE” solo exhibition at ArtSpace111. Curating & appearing in CONTEM?ORARIES, Fort Worth Central Library. 2010 “Places Remembered, Things Forgotten” solo exhibition at Clifton Capital Investments, Fort Worth. Featured Artist, Fifteenth Annual Artists Against AIDS Benefit Auction. “Preservation is the Art of the City” juried exhibition benefiting Historic Fort Worth Inc. 30th Anniversary Show at Wally Workman Gallery in Austin. “HARRIS, SMITH, LIENAU, STEVENS, LONG” at JRB Art at The Elms in Oklahoma City. “A Grand Affair” group show at Wally Workman Gallery in Austin. 2009 “Summer Show” group show at ArtSpace111 Gallery in Fort Worth. “D Art Slam” juried art show in Dallas. “The American Landscape: Urban/Rural” group show at ArtSpace111 Gallery in Fort Worth. “Dallas Art Fair” represented by Artspace111. 2008 “WORTHwhile” group show at ArtSpace111 Gallery in Fort Worth. Solo exhibition at the Petroleum Club of Fort Worth. 2007 “Small Works” group show at JRB Gallery, Oklahoma City. “Landscapes” solo exhibition at Fort Worth Community Arts Center. TAC Juried Membership Show at Fort Worth Community Arts Center, juried by Ed & Linda Blackburn. Solo exhibition at Heliotrope Gallery, Fort Worth. “SUPER REALISM: Oil Paintings by Morgan Craig and Eric K Stevens” at City Arts Center, Oklahoma City, curated by Clint Stone. “Flowers In Memory” Solo exhibition at Fort Worth Community Arts Center. 2006 “Camille Engel & Eric K Stevens” at Dean Day Gallery, Houston. “Advisory Panel Selects” juried exhibition at Fort Worth Community Arts Center, selected by Sculptor Michael Pavlovsky. TAC Juried Membership Show at Fort Worth Community Arts Center. juried by Dr. Frances Colpitt. 25th Annual Open Show. 500X Gallery, Dallas. “Spring Gallery Night: Choices from the Biennial” at Fort Worth Community Arts Center. Biennial Show, Fort Worth Community Arts Center. 13th Annual Invitational at Eleanor Kirkpatrick Gallery, City Arts Center, Oklahoma City, curated by Clint Stone. Solo exhibition. Coffeehouse Gallery, Fort Worth.
GALLERY REPRESENTATIONS
Artspace111
111 Hampton Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
817 692 3228
Dean Day Gallery
2639 Colquitt
Houston, Texas 77098
713 520 1021
Wally Workman Gallery
1202 West 6th Street
Austin, Texas 78703
512 472 7428
ORGANIZATIONS
Eric is a member of the Exhibition Advisory Panel of the Fort Worth Community Arts Center.
Eric is a member of the Texas Artists Coalition.
Eric has been a member of the International Guild of Realism which is dedicated to the advancement of Realism in Contemporary Fine Art.
All images copyright Eric K. Stevens unless otherwise noted. ©2011. All rights reserved.