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2024 paintings

Index of paintings by Stephen Gibb

2024 paintings

What is painting and why do I paint

To understand the object as a symbol the viewer must disengage from the object and penetrate beyond its visual representation to extract its significance from the volumes of connotation held within. To say a picture is worth a thousand words is to impose a limitation on its potential.

What my paintings offer is a chance for the viewer to construct their own narrative based on the connotations and associations they may derive from the imagery, regardless of my motivations for painting it.

Understand, there are no drugs involved and no psychedelic experimentation. Along with my natural neurological makeup, I have conditioned my mind to think in a way that allows bizarre connections and associations to combine with seemingly disparate objects — all coming together with meaning and signification.

Stephen Gibb lives and works in southern Ontario, Canada. He earned a B.F.A. in visual arts from the University of Windsor and is currently represented by the St. Germain gallery in Toronto. Among the cities he has exhibited in are San Diego, Sacramento, and Hollywood— the hotbed of California’s Lowbrow and Pop Surrealism community. His work is collected around the globe and has gained widening interest since working on the album art for hip hop artist Trippie Redd.

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Psychopathology of Wants and Needs – Pop surrealism painting by Canadian Artist Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2022

This painting started off a few light years away from where it ended up. The original concept was to do something around the theme of “bliss”, examining the things that bring us to this occasionally visited state of mind.

I envisioned a head absorbing the things around it, which would have been things that evoke the state of bliss in people. The head became a skull, full of holes because it just seemed like a cool idea. I think sometimes the things that people seek to attain their blissful state can also be deadly and I liked the “ultimate conclusion” commentary by including the skull, acknowledging it as the final destination of bliss and of life.

Everything I came up with just seemed lame after that. So, I thought I’d explore the foundations of why we seek bliss. It occurred to me that maybe there was something in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that could give some insight into the concept.

This is where I abandoned the whole bliss theme.

Instead, I focused on representations of “needs” in my typical left-field approach, bubblegum surrealism style. A trivialized representation of food (sustenance) became a pie, which I doubled back on, posing the pie in the act of replicating himself…rolling out some dough for a crust. Reproduction is on the lower level on Maslow’s hierarchy and is represented by the pie and the gooey union of the two lolly pops, who produce offspring at the point of their sticky embrace. The progeny then takes an ironic bite out of the parent in an act of defiance and rebellion — the normal function of a teenager (LOL). At the far right a figure looks at his fingers as they produce offspring, which appear to just be fodder for the crow standing nearby (the circle of life).

The figure on the far right also represents clothing, shelter, property, security, which are lower, basic requirements according to Maslow.

The sleeping potato symbolizes, sleep, air and water — also basic needs, in spite of the absurdity of the situation.

As we move upward the needs become more abstract and less material. The two lollies could represent love, intimacy, family and connection, whereas the green lolly’s floating-away crown touches on the area Maslow characterized as “esteem”, the realm of status, recognition and self-esteem, things I think our society puts too much stock in. As well we put absurd value on wants versus needs and a title was suggested to me — The Psychopathology of Need and Wants.

At the right side of the mountain is Sisyphus as an ape, pushing a large brain up the incline, symbolizing evolution, strength and the struggle to raise the “required needs” to the pinnacle of the hierarchy, which is represented by the pyramid man at the top, radiating out to embrace everything in his “blissful” state of self-actualization. - Artist Stephen Gibb, Nov., 2022

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The Aimless Meander: The creative process involved in composing Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy

Meditating on the concept of daydreaming conjures all kinds of stereotypes, mostly those perpetuated by pop culture and the associated canon of symbols established by TV, music, movies, and comics. A reclined child staring into the clouds and seeing shapes appear is the standard cliche, which I wanted to avoid.

Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2022

When I decided to explore the concept of daydreams for a painting I began with the idea of a figure in a daydream state, emersed physically, into the stuff that daydreams are made of.
My initial figure took shape as an old man, eyes closed, lost in his imagination, represented by an eyeball floating in liquid, where his brain should have been.

Line work for the painting “Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy” by Stephen Gibb, 2002

Dr. Daydream

I christened him Dr. Daydream and I set about imagining his world. I envisioned a guide leading Dr. Daydream through his dream, which could be none other than his own brain. Astride his brain a jovial Humpty Dumpty takes his hand to help him navigate the bizarre landscape. Humpty steers the brain but is oblivious of his duty since he looks backwards instead of at the road ahead. This represents the meandering uncertainty of where a daydream will lead us. The journey is an adventure without destination.

From Dark to Light

I wanted Dr. Daydream moving away from the darkness and into the bright future ahead. This is kind of illustrating an escapist view of daydreaming. Rather than dealing with the foreboding darkness, his attention is directed away at the bright colours and the large happy face that dominates the right side above him. Mr. Moonlight looks down with sorrowful eyes as the Doctor moves away from the darkness of the woods and wilderness behind him.

Time Doesn’t Fly, it Floats Away

Dr. Daydream was wearing a wristwatch, but it has detached and is floating away. In a dream state, time has no domain over the dreamer…

Title Just Isn’t Cutting it

Things from here out started to get more and more associative and detached from the pure notion of daydreaming. I decided to expand the title to encompass the broadening scope of the content. Dr. Daydream Prescribes Aggressive Psychotherapy works better, and now adds more width for tangential exploration. The vast realm of psychology can now be conjured, and my diversions of whimsy can be excused away.

Walking is A Time-Space Activity

Dr. Daydream steps forward and his most recent footstep is ghosted by a bare foot stepping in sticky goo. My thought here was to represent a movement through time and the bare, primitive foot being a step back in evolution, contrasted with the present-time foot.

Protective Headgear Recommended for All

I like to insert interlocutors into the foreground of my paintings—seemingly detached observers helping the viewer link with the overwhelming weirdness going on behind. Enter Helmet Head.
Helmet Head is more concerned with the wondrous object in his grasp but helps add to the general mystery of the overall image.

Idea Thief

OK, sometimes I rehash an idea that I’ve used before and by that action, I become my own idea thief. Helmet Head has a socket in his dome, from which a slimy creep removes a lightbulb. Symbolism borrowed from cartoons and comics, probably dating back to Edison. I said I wanted to avoid symbolic cliches, but here is an exception.

A Phallic Rocket Becomes a Knife

In rough sketches I positioned a rocket in the sky above the good Doctor’s head, leaving a trail that swirled around his head, between his legs and to its beginnings, somewhere over and beyond the trees. As things progressed in the sketch, I decided to turn the rocket into a knife, a more aggressive phallus, and have it sail between his legs in a psychosexual trajectory but embed it into his brain. I’ll let you do your own psychoanalysis of this. A certain F word may help.

The Red Balloon

Another symbol of floating along…the balloon is a reference to the aimless meander of daydreaming. In this case the balloon drifts through the air and makes it impossible for a caretaker to keep Dr. Daydream’s head corked. His essence is released in a psychedelic burst of colour…setting the stage for the multicoloured right-hand side of the painting.

Building Out the Composition with Unencumbered Impulses

The basic image was composed pretty much as it was chronologically described above. At this point there was some need for smaller details and compositional elements to be added for balance and interest. The Brain crawls along the ground but is distracted by a skull with the cap removed and examines the contents as he pours it out. This could easily represent psychotherapy. The symbol for the Greek letter Psi is added to the knife, which is also widely understood as a symbol for psychology. Clouds form from stars and hearts in a cheesy reference to seeing shapes (Pareidolia) where they don’t really exist. A spaceship bears witness to the events below, representing a naïve or innocent bystander. Dr. Daydream’s left hand is grounded by a tap root, symbolizing the roots of everything with nature. He also wears an interesting signet ring of no real importance but will keep viewers challenging themselves to formulate a meaning. Human nature demands meaning from the things in its environment, however, there is no direct line to interpreting the painting “correctly”. Some symbolism may come easily to the viewer and the meaning may be more commonly held than others. The true joy is identifying things through your own idiosyncratic filters and biases and deriving your own meaning. My paintings give you permission to explore yourself by mulling over the images.

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Dropping off paintings at St. Germain Gallery in Toronto.

Anyone in the GTA looking for my art may be pleased to know that it may be closer than you think.

I have been working with the St. Germain Gallery at 3358 Yonge St. in Toronto since May 2018 and they have a number of my paintings available for view and sale in their gallery.

I would encourage you to visit Young Kim and Chad Fobert at the gallery or take some time to browse their Online site at www.stgermaingallery.com

Paintings available include:

SOLD — Don’t Poop On My Party!—Stephen Gibb, 324″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

Don’t Poop On My Party! — 24” x 21.5”, oil on panel, 2020

The Panpsychic Candy Apple, Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

The Panpsychic Candy Apple — 36” x 24”, oil on panel, 2020

SOLD — Death of Contemplation, Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2019

Death of Contemplation — 36” x 24”, oil on panel, 2019

Spooky Action at Close Proximity — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2019

Spooky Action At Close Proximity — 36” x 24”, oil on panel, 2019

Red Dot Magnified 20,000% — 43” circle, oil on panel, 2018

Bread #9 — 12″ x 12″, oil on panel, 2018

Bread #16 — 12″ x 12″, oil on panel, 2018

Bread #17 — 12″ x 12″, oil on panel, 2018

Frog Prince at the Gates of Decay, painting by Canadian surrealist Stephen Gibb, 48″ x 36″, oil on panel, 2017

Frog prince at the gates of decay — 48″ x 36″, oil on panel, 2017

Happy Moon Face – Stephen Gibb, oil on panel, 2017

Moon Face — 43” circle, oil on panel, 2017

Persistence of decay

Persistence of Decay — 24” x 24”, oil on panel, 2015

The lovelorn and the cycle of lies

The Lovelorn and the Cycle of Lies — 24” x 24”, oil on panel, 2015

The Icarus Clock — 24” x24”, oil on panel, 2014

The Sourdough Dolly and Her Salivating Solid-door Ally Choose Either Salad or Surreal Cereal as Sir Eel and Salvador Dali Look on — 24” x 24”, oil on panel, 2014

Stressed for Time — 24” x 24”, oil on panel, 2014

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21st Century Surrealism

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Last Days Of the Plague — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

The long history of art relating to plague can be traced from medieval times and the likes of Hieronymus Bosch to the irreverent doodling of pop surrealism art

After resisting the sort of automatic response that the year 2020 prompted—mainly as a result of the pandemic crisis of Covid-19, I finally relented.

There is only so much one can take with the onslaught of media and the reports that propagate fear and disseminate ignorance before you start to manifest a reaction. It was with fear and ignorance that this painting took root.

Basing the initial thoughts around the centrally positioned “troll under the bridge” I thought I could divide the painting into two halves, where the left represented fear and the right represented ignorance but that was just the launch pad.

A painting seldom blossoms from the core concept into a fully realised representation of that concept. It often transforms into something else as the idea incubates and I ponder the elements of the composition. This painting represents a prime example of that kind of deviation from the original whim—a transformation into something more ambitious with a broader scope of themes.

As well as the initial themes of ignorance and fear, the image now includes commentary on superstition, plague, decay, pollution, contamination and irresponsibility. Time to apply my brand of pop surrealism art to the painting

Breaking down the images

Safe as houses: What could be safer than isolation in your own home? The thing is, as we learned in 2020, you still need to interact with outsiders in the society and culture we have created. Bringing outside threat into the home is a concern and the fearful–looking house and house ablaze symbolizes that fear.

Protection: The prophylactic use of masks as protection from the virus is echoed in the plague-doctor crow and the deep-sea diving suit, both fearful enough to wear protective clothing but still threatened by contamination. The crow, and diver being attacked by the piranha were two of the first and original ideas. The crow tries to reinforce the crumbling wall oblivious to the poison gas dancing around his feet. The sun masks the smell of decay with a clothespin but the ineffective defence is futile against the underlying factor present in the “plague”.

The Plague: I wanted to represent the “plague” as a color and the antifreeze green or Mountain Dew yellow seemed perfect to symbolize it. Originally the source was to be from the troll, oozing from his nose and mouth, contaminating the water and by extension into the food and drink of the townspeople and leaching into the ecosystem as well. The locust, a symbol of plague, was an afterthought but was needed to balance the composition (as were the pumpkin, the bubbles and the Soviet-era missile)

I only drink when I’m drunk: The “villagers” are oblivious to the threats around them and they represent the ignorant aspect of my original concept. They drink to intoxication, without regard to what it is they are drinking and without any effort to protect themselves or others by wearing masks or socially distancing. This brash flouting of common sense leads to more contamination and perpetuates the vicious circle.

Always after me lucky charms: Ignorance can give birth to superstition. During the 17th century it was believed that plague was propagated by putrid air and that a beak-like mask filled with herbs, straw, and spices would offer protection—hence my plague-doctor crow. It was also believed that onions could ward off the infection!

It’s a gas: Playing off the miasma theory of plague propagation I used a poison gas canister attached to the locust to represent the idea of the plague being present in the air. Not only that but it is manifesting itself as a creepy clown that looms threateningly over the village. The mournful tree trunk also oozes a noxious gas that floats into the clouds, only to condense and return as a toxic raindrop.

Motherland of invention: Using the decaying Soviet-era missile was not a political statement. Being from the West, the threat during the Cold War was always the Soviet Union, so showing a relic from that era was reflexive. The idea of a neglected nuclear missile, rotting and contaminating the environment just seemed to fit with the vibe of the painting and as stated above, I needed something to compositionally balance the painting there.

Let’s get medieval: Our notion of plague often harken back to the Black Death and the stories that spring from that era. I wanted a little nod to that notion and the wooden cart, stone wall and cobblestones seemed to give the painting some medieval flavour.

I am the eggman: Yes, that’s me, recovering from a broken ankle while I painted this. I am vulnerable and frail as Humpty Dumpty, trying to ward off the plague by distancing myself from human contact (even further than usual).

Pop Surrealism Art: Yeah I know, WTF does that mean? It means people search the web for pop surrealism art and that ultimately brings them to me…

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More about Stephen Gibb:

• Lowbrow Pop Surrealism Exhibit – Gag Me With a Toon

• Banksy Exhibit

• More On Pop Surrealism

• Trippie Redd Album Cover

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Lava Quest—Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

Maybe it’s not even fair to call what I do Contemporary Surrealism or even Surreal Art. The presentation may make the viewer recall surrealism from their scant art history lessons in high school but the surreal art of scholarly examination relates to something from long ago and far away—produced under an entirely different mind set and time period. What I do with my fractured logic and characters of a fantastic nature are narrative tools and devices, akin to the characters and stories in a Grimm’s fairy tale. On the surface is a personified eruption of molten lava, but what is present in connotations and associations below the surface is the real message, awaiting extraction.

The Lava Quest

Being in a state of engineered subjugation leaves an individual always longing and aspiring to elevate their standing, improve their quality of life and notch their status up the prestige ladder. It’s the nature of consumerist and capitalist society—what fuels the churn of the “daily grind” and the unfulfilling drudgery of the workweek. What is often at work is a psychological sense of inadequacy, a nagging impulse to keep up with the Jonses and relentless social climbing.

Humpty has a broken cup. He sees the object of his desire—the “holy grail” cup across the molten abyss and his quest becomes clear. Through much sacrifice he takes up the challenge, burning others on his way, using them to keep his balance. At one end of the rope he struggles in a psychological representation on himself, literally losing his mind and destroying his physical self in the process. He faces death across the abyss, which is holding the other end of the rope mockingly in his grinning teeth.

The land he leaves behind is essentially a prison, mindless and without hope. The land he crosses over to is where the mind resides, swimming in a vat of Kool-Aid and disguised with a smiling façade. A turnip tries desperately to carve a crown out of his own flesh but in doing so illustrates the absurdity of the entire image.

Innocent witnesses are found in the pear man and the goldfish, taking in the scene with surprise and trepidation. The fishhook forms a “question mark”, emphasising the wonder and confusion of the activity. The only character being true to his nature is the lava, blissfully erupting without concern to those around him.

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21st Century Surrealism

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The Allegorical Baked Potato of the Apocalypse — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

The painting personifies potatoes and examines them in their natural “potato environment” to reveal subtle aspects of human nature and behaviour in a fun and absurdly roundabout way.

Starting at the top, the central image of the baked potato radiates like some kind of deity in the sky. I thought of the baked potato as the ultimate expression of a potato, but there is also a sense of menace about it. An idealized and divine representation often alludes to some unattainable ideal, or abstract aspiration like a quest for the Holy Grail. Its ominous position looks like it could be an apocalyptic meteor falling to earth or a god lording over its humble subjects on their earthly domain below.

The salt and pepper shakers are two sides of a cosmic dichotomy. The anger and rage of the pepper is offset by the delight of the salt. Like some yin-yang balance in the heavens, they overlook the activity below, sprinkling their essences, which are ironically typical potato seasonings. Again, there is a divine detachment, but an active involvement in the goings on below.

At the middle left is the gravy boat containing the smile potatoes in a symbol of indulgence and decadence. Playing on the metaphoric strength of what gravy connotes (as well as being the perfect topping for potatoes), the smiles gleefully bathe in it, though one sinks abashedly below the surface. The reason for his demeanour is the sudden arrival of the scorned green onion (a potato garnish), whose emotional display of anger at being excluded from the privileged experience of the smiles may also be an expression of FOMO. Class struggle and failed aspirations could be construed from this encounter.

Canadian Pop Surrealism Art of Stephen Gibb

At the green onion’s heel is a solemn memorial to the great potato famine, acknowledging a historic event that brutally demonstrated the importance of potatoes as a staple in the western diet.

The potato in the lower left corner is a commentary on identity. Whether he is dissatisfied with his appearance or wanting to alter it, he weighs his Mr. Potato Head options laid out before him. Our societies obsession about appearance is reflected in his dilemma but the ambiguity of his actions (is he shedding the disguise or donning it?) make for a more personal interpretation. The bowler hat reaches back to historical class-distinction/status issues as well.

Next to Mr. Potato Head is a curly fry. Twisted and dizzy from the nature of it’s own corkscrew design it symbolizes the disorientation and confusion of modern life.

Canadian Pop Surrealism Art of Stephen Gibb

Above the curly fry is a pierogi huddled behind a giant potato chip. The pierogi represent a tradition or culture of the past, an anachronism, a hand-made food cowering behind the supreme, mass-produced junk food of contemporary times. The clash between generations is amplified by the demeanours of both figures—the demure, wilting perogi and the exuberant and bold posture of the chip. The potato chip holds aloft a potato masher and potato peeler, two items that, to a potato, could be identified as weapons. As the chip skids though some chip dip he is effectively appeased by the presentation of a French fry, which seems to allay him from his aggressive approach. The old potato dispenses this pacifier from his dwindling supply echoing the basis of many economic theories. He is an archaic holdover from a bygone era, with his broccoli/cheese brain and traditional potato appearance intact. Blind and forlorn, he dominates the scene but his frailty is poised to give way to the aggression of the next generation.

The pile of mashed potatoes in the centre bottom lustfully licks the melting butter—the very thing, which in turn makes him delicious, in a circular, self-referent absurdity (such is life).

Canadian Pop Surrealism Art of Stephen Gibb

On the far right bottom a tater tot observes some new potatoes, innocent and yet to be influenced by the crazy world around them. The tater tot is an example of a very processed and modified version of a potato so the contrast to the fresh, new, “baby” potatoes is more poignant.

Observing all the activity is the slightly frightened and definitely agitated bottle of ketchup. Another condiment for potatoes, he conceals himself, isolated and voyeuristic, trying to make sense of all the activity.

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Surrealism Famous For Stimulating Creativity

More Links:
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Saatchi Art featuring Canadian artist Stephen Gibb

St. Germain Gallery: Featuring Stephen Gibb

Surrealism
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“There Are Fake Diamonds In My Shit” , Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2019

Lowbrow pop surrealism

…just what exactly is this mishmash of cultural references and art keywords. Well, that pretty much says it all. To reach the audience who wants to delve into the realm of lowbrow pop surrealism, you have to be able to tickle the algorithms and register within the criteria of online search queries. Using the right keywords that lead to content that hopefully fits the intentions of the searcher, the web can direct you to familiar paths or blindside you with unexpected discovery.

That’s what I am tying to do with this post. No one ever labeled their artwork as “lowbrow pop surrealism” but the two blended genres have lived side by side for so long now they have almost become synonymous.
And how else will you discover my painting “There Are Fake Diamonds In My Shit” without a little Internet magic?

Now to break it down…

Definition of lowbrow : of, relating to, or suitable for a person with little taste or intellectual interest .
Well that’s a little blunt. From an artistic perspective here’s what Wikipedia has to say about “lowbrow art”: Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, describes an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. It is a populist art movement with its cultural roots in underground comix, punk music, tiki culture, and hot-rod cultures of the street.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_(art_movement)

Ok, to me, this even seems a little too specific and maybe even a little exclusive. For one thing it failed to mention the ubiquitous prevalence of “Margaret Keane-style” knock-off girls with big dewy eyes and blank expressions. And, yes, maybe I could square peg myself into the round hole of “underground comix” (my sketches do look a little like Robert Crumb drawings) but let’s just say there are many artist like me who have taken lowbrow sensibilities and run with them in their own directions.

And now we come to surrealism.
Definition of surrealism: a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature, which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.

Wait, what? Irrational? Are you trying to say my paintings are irrational? Unconscious? I don’t even believe in the unconscious mind, except the autonomic nervous system that keeps me alive while I’m thinking of something else or sleeping. Damn, I just forgot to breathe for a second there…

Oh shit, I guess I didn’t read the entire Wikipedia definition of lowbrow….”It is also often known by the name pop surrealism. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor – sometimes the humor is gleeful, sometimes impish, and sometimes it is a sarcastic comment.”

BINGO!

BTW humor is spelled H-U-M-O-U-R…

Which leads us the painting in question. “There Are Fake Diamonds In My Shit” is essentially a commentary on commerce, using idioms of money and extending my obsessive commentary on consumerism to a nauseating degree of blather.
Since we consume we must excrete and as consumers there is always waste (the black cloud of smoke, the shit). The predominate figure of the “fool and his money” has a giant $-shaped colon on his back. The colon is consuming “bread” (colloquial term for money) and is shitting on money (dirty money). Money is also “burning a hole in his pocket”. There is money laundering; money is the root of all evil, blood money, moneybag, money pit, money growing on a tree and money to burn. Rounding things out are the cabbage, anther term for money and Ben Franklin, the figure on a US $100 bill.

I need to mention lowbrow pop surrealism one more time to boost the keyword frequency.
And now you know how and why you ended up here.

“Circus of Delusion”—Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, 2020

Don’t Poop On My Party!—Stephen Gibb, 324″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

The Sacred and Profane—Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

If someone discovers my art based on a “crazy art” query, so be it. I can be the “crazy artist”.

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Dopamine

Here we go round the prickly apple at 5 o’clock in the morning – Stephen Gibb, oil on panel, 2017

“Fun House of Phobias” — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel 2019

Pictorial Puzzles for a Post-human Paleontologist

Keeping it Together, Walking on Eggshells” — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2019

Caught, by Stephen Gibb, oil on panel, 36″ x 24″, 2018

Last Days Of the Plague — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

Frog Prince at the Gates of Decay, painting by Canadian surrealist Stephen Gibb, 48″ x 36″, oil on panel, 2017

The reluctant clown candidate held aloft by blind zealots

Software and Clockworks

Revenge of the sycophant scorned

Happy cookie

Cheesy Dorito

Happy Peanut Butter

Freaky Donut

Self-absorbed Popsicle

Reese Peanut Butter Cup

All I want’s to be left on a block of ice

Sympathy for the Rat King

Spinning plates

Keeping mum in the presence of a toxic personality

If I blow your mind, what will you do for me?

Frantic preservation of essence in the face of imminent contamination

One bad apple

Maniacal menace of the culture colossus on auto pilot

Laughing my fool head off

The cannibal bubblegum’s sugary lust of hidden truths

Chicken and the egg

The emperor’s new confection

Heavy thoughts

With the promise of chocolate Humpty gets duped by the clockwork carrot

Oh, Crap!

Dark side of the flaming moon

Mastery of the social graces and the maladroit tea party

Carl sleeps and dreams of being forever Jung

The thief exploits a temporary lapse in security

The sourdough dolly and her salivating solid-door ally choose either salad or surreal cereal as Sir Eel and Salvador Dali look on

Krampus in the box

Last of the carnivorous unicorns

Darkness falls on the whitebread world

Stephen Gibb Artist Statement
(Or, at least a feeble attempt to excuse my behaviour to those present with good taste)
My artwork weaves an eclectic tapestry of cultural and social influences. At one moment it may make a
single-punch-line comment on pop culture while the next it may construct a complex and playful diorama
probing into the outer perimeters of human nature.
My work is often categorized as pop surrealism but I’d begrudgingly prefer to tag it as existential editorial
cartoon realism, just because it sounds more intelligent and funny at the same time. The work holds
a certain reverence and faithfulness to reality mimicry but leans away enough to fall in the shadow of the
“uncanny valley*”, the area where the mind is unsettled by what looks real enough but couldn’t possible
be. It is in this realm, theoretically, that the mind’s gamma waves are super-stimulated and brain activity
resembles fireworks. I resolve that this accounts for the broad reactions my work garners from observers,
that ranges from contemptuous dismissal to enthusiastic exuberance. We are all wired differently.
The medium is the method, which has been a faithful deployment of oil painting and traditional oil painting
techniques, such as glazing and the occasional dalliance into chiaroscuro. The richness achieved
by layers of thinned oil paint on MDF panels always adds an interesting luminous quality to the final
piece.
My direction as of late has been to devote more to composing on the panels rather than in pre-sketches.
I’m intrigued by the more spontaneous and gratifying results of ideas presenting themselves in the process
rather than in the planning, hence the falloff in the recent output of sketches. Often a core image or
concept dictates subliminally as to how the composition manifests itself.
see stephengibb.com for more

Stephen Gibb Canadian Surrealism

Stephen Gibb Canadian Pop Surrealism

Stephen Gibb Canadian Pop Surrealism

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