2025

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2025 paintings

Index of paintings by Stephen Gibb

2025 paintings

Graduate of the University of Windsor School of Visual Arts – BFA 1985

Canadian painter Stephen Gibb is known for his vibrant Pop Surrealism oil paintings and his commissioned work with the music industry. His bright mashups of iconic characters often address the existential issues and anxieties of contemporary society, which are contrasted by moments of joy and transcendence. “We are reared on nursery rhymes and fairy tales, so why not extend those lessons and conventions into more adult-based themes?” says Gibb. His paintings offer a chance for the viewer to ignite their own creativity and construct their own narrative –¬¬ informed by their personal experiences and the associations they may derive from the imagery.
Familiar to millions around the globe his artwork is indelibly linked to the album art of hip hop artist Trippie Redd and to some degree, British singer/songwriter Hope Tala, a favourite of Barak Obama.

Windsor painter, Stephen Gibb, is consumed by the magic and mystery of art — the magic found in the uncanny visceral and cognitive impact that art has on us; the mystery being the unknowable, open-ended aspect that draws us into the artwork and into ourselves. Fascinated by figurative language and abstract concepts that are transformed into literal images, his allegorical and symbolic nature explores neuroscience and the science of vision and colour to enhance his signature level of visual overload. A student of Surrealism, cartoons and psychedelic art, Gibb has found himself an adopted member of the Pop Surrealism, Lowbrow artists

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2023

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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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Art Comp 2023 — Show your Support!

“Essence of Hope and Despair” — Stephen Gibb, oil on panel, 2021

This painting is 1 of 100 artworks vying for the ART COMP 2023 prize. I am looking for support from friends and followers. Please consider voting for my painting today! To vote for this work visit the online voting site (https://artcomp.awardsplatform.com/) or visit Art Comp 2023 in person at 100 Kellogg Lane in London ON

Stephen Gibb at the Art Comp 2023 opening night event

Essence of Hope and Despair, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel by Stephen Gibb, 2021

CLICK TO VOTE!

About the painting:

Tapping into the realm of psychology, the surface of water is the threshold between the air and the depths but also represents levels of consciousness and awareness. The skull has penetrated the surface and is entering the murky depths where unseen and unknown things dwell. The vicious-looking fish lurks about in a threatening manner…the psychoanalytic submarine searches for meaning, while a submerged rock mound echoes the strongholds that pierce the surface like island totems — once a refuge but now a drowned, mysterious relic.

Hope takes the shape of the exploding yellow head on the far left. Visions of colourful delights flow out of his head, candies and flowers support a childhood source of comfort in the shape of a teddy bear. But there is a sinister side to hope, perhaps when hope becomes delusional. The teddy bear is actually coming apart and his insides (his essence) is being devoured by two other figures.

Despair is the eggman on the far right. Lost in his anguish, his head leaks the essence that once held him together, his hope of evolving from egg state to bird is no more. The green figure above him echoes his emotional state and dark clouds brew in the background with foreboding menace.

The spaceman is the explorer, surveying the mayhem, like an agent of psychoanalysis assessing the situation, from the safety of his self-contained suit.

Frank Zappa once said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture”. I feel the same way about writing about art. Art is its own language with only awkward translations available. I can repeat the notions that crossed my mind when creating the painting, but most of that would be irrelevant. I could deconstruct the process employed while producing the piece but that would only be an abstraction of a bunch of arbitrary steps. I could agonize over all the decisions that went into the painting but that would be like describing all the bolts that go into the making of an automobile. The composition tends towards a harmonious sense of balance — a measuring out of points of interest, detail and colour but it reveals nothing significant.

Essence of Hope and Despair

Painting in Art Comp 2023 competition

A painting by pop surrealist Stephen Gibb

Artist: Stephen Gibb, oil on wood panel, 36″ x 24″, 2021

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2023

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Return to main gallery

2023 paintings

Index of paintings by Stephen Gibb

2023 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 dugs 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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Nighttime Quells the Frisson of Breathing Sunlight — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

Canadian artist Stephen Gibb

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St. Germain Gallery – Toronto

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Hopefully you can find what you are looking for in the above links or by a simple Google search. If you have any questions or want to reach out to me personally you can always send an email at: info@stephengibb.com

Vax —Canadian artist Stephen Gibb, 36′ x 24″, oil on panel, 2021

More from Canadian artist Stephen Gibb: On the surface it would be easy to categorize my “style” as a blend of Surrealistic fluidity, Northern Renaissance narratives with Cartoon/Comic Book characters in a Nursery Rhyme tale of morality. I guess if it were to fit a trend it would be a remnant of the Hot Rod and Psychedelic art of the 60s, which today is recognized as Pop Surrealism.

I am fascinated by neuroscience and psychology, which probably flavours everything I do. When composing a painting I will ask myself or have specific ideas about what the characters are thinking and experiencing. I think it’s my way of opening a dialogue with the viewer, hoping that they ask the same questions.

I have always been interested in the human condition and the complexity of human nature. I tend to think in “universal” themes, which may be skewed by my own biases and perspective, but they often serve as my point of inspiration. What could be characterized as existential themes, ones that cross cut the inner workings and emotions of being human—being alone, being faced with trying to make sense of existence—arise all the time in my work.

Most often the external influences on my art are just reactions to what I perceive about the situations around me. I do draw a lot of inspiration from concepts like consumerism and capitalism—our nature to indulge in excess and exploit the planet for personal gain. By extension that exploitation of the planet trickles through in environmental messages occasionally. This year I also responded to the pandemic with a plague-themed painting. In it I used some of my standard themes of decay, threat , anxiety and self-preservation.I think my introverted nature has directed most of my life experience and forced me to internalize things in order to evaluate and search for meaning. I try hard to understand things and have come to respect the inevitable confusion. Confusion is just one of the ingredients that shape meaning.

I come from a comfortable middle-class background that nurtured a thirst for experience, exploration, curiosity and inspiration. When someone turns a concept I’ve held on its head I am always shook and love that mind-blowing feeling of new discovery. I have a university education and a BFA in visual arts, so I had the good fortune of that experience as a foundation. Western pop culture has definitely played more of a role in contributing to my art than religion, gender or ethnicity.

I’ve never had to sustain myself by selling art, so I never fell into the trap of producing commoditised or commodified artwork—just simply painted to sell. My main income was elsewhere and that gave me a deep respect for the time and effort I wanted to put into my painting. I painted what I wanted without a market in mind and it slowly developed over the years to what it is today. I don’t think it could have worked any other way.

Canadian artist Stephen Gibb

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Girl Eats Sun: Background story to the artwork for Hope Tala

I was contacted in the summer of 2020 to work with Hope Tala on creating some album art for her EP Girl Eats Sun.

When I asked if she was the “girl” in the title, she confirmed my suspicion and I knew I had to incorporate a portrait of her into the artwork.

She gave me a list of song titles — Girl Eats Sun, All My Girls Like To Fight, Crazy, Drugstore, Easy To Love Me, Mulholland and Cherries. I though, why not use these titles as the source for the imagery on the cover as well. So each song title became symbolically represented and combined with the image of Hope herself. Each title conjured a rich image in my mind that fit perfectly with my quirky way of painting in my pop surrealism style. I worked up a rough sketch that blended all the seperate images into one big scene of craziness.

I got Hope’s blessings on my sketch and I jumped into the painting with both feet. Everything came together into one big, bright unified image—reminiscent of psychedelic art from the 1960s. The exaggerated colour and playful characters help give the painting an undeniable sense of crazy fun.

I’ll let you figure out the rest for yourself.

Interview in Euphoria

Interview in House of Solo

Hope Tala on Twitter

Hope Tala on Instagram

Stephen Gibb on Instagram

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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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