Pop Surrealism has a broad range of influences, a reverence for art history, an unsettling presence and a wicked sense of humour. One thing that unites the pop surrealist community is their comfortable and insatiable relationship with weirdness. If describing in words what is and what isn’t pop surrealism, one only has to look at the work to get the distinction.

To me, pop surrealism and lowbrow are just labels that I fit easily into. It’s a category that helps you describe my work to someone else, and to locate it or discover it Online. Chances are you are reading this right now because of some connection the “movement”. At any rate, you are here, so take a minute to plunge deeper into my world…

Can You Pass The Marshmallow Test?
In this painting I explore themes that relate to psychology. If you have a working knowledge of some of experimental psychology’s fundamentals, you probably have a good idea what’s going on here. There are effigies of Freud and Skinner, as well as references to Rorschach, Pavlov and other classic research experiments. Plus a few little random things I wanted to add.

Head Trip to the Uncanny Valley of the Shadow
This painting began as an exploration of “the journey” or “the trip” and because of the connotations took on some drug references as well. Aside from the planes, trains and automobiles and the drug paraphernalia, there is the flaming skull, which I imagine is the hell of addiction. The so-called “loss of ego” is symbolized by the crown floating away, while the desperate lizard (lizard brain) tries to stay with it.

Give Me A Break
Taking idioms of the word “break” and incorporating them into visual symbols was the thought behind this painting. Break the bank, heart broken, break the spell, etc. Though this may have been the motivation and the roots of the composition, my mind took it in many different directions as well.

Happy! — Stephen Gibb, 36″ x 24″, oil on panel, 2020

Back to Gallery

The post Pop Surrealism and Lowbrow appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Contemporary art has been hit hard by our inability to focus, meditate or even take five minutes alone with a painting.

With my painting Death of Contemplation, the title comes from my lament for a time before incessant distraction. When you could fall into a deep, thoughtful meditation and slowly mull over an idea until it blossomed into something wonderful. The tranquility and quietening of the mind was like being submerged in a peaceful lucid dream, relaxing and thrilling at the same time. As a contemporary artist and painter, I relish those moments.

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

The content of the painting however takes on a more dark turn. Based on idioms of death the “characters” associations and literal depictions of phrases relating to death create a macabre jumble of imagery. Not exactly your typical contemporary art.

On the far left a microphone records no sound in its emblematic expression of dead air. Next to it a dead end sign grows fruit with some already dead on the vine. At the head of the coffin rests a dead eye, contextually out of place from its normal nautical setting, it echoes a death’s head expression with empty eye sockets and mouth agape. The severed hand holds the black 8s and Aces of the dead man’s hand. Above the dead jelly man Humpty Dumpty whips a dead horse, locked in a dead heat with a living horse. The death’s head door is as dead as the doornail hammered into it and below a pair of dead man’s shoes sits abandoned. The Dodo is not quite as dead as a dodo, but soon will be with the thirteen coils of the hangman’s noose ready for action. Behind the dodo is a spectre of the undead, looming in the darkness. In the sky a symbolic representation of Hypnos (personification of sleep) flies by the moon while mirrored on the opposite side is the Hypnos’ twin brother Thanatos, represented by the inverted torch symbol and the Greek personification of death. Last is the sickle mounted on the wall, which occasionally substitutes for the scythe—the weapon held by the Grim Reaper…Mr. Death himself.

InstagramDeviantArt

Back to Gallery

The post Contemporary Art and the Death of Contemplation appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Life’s A Trip

Stephen Gibb’s cover art for Trippie Redd’s album “LIFE’S A TRIP” – ©2018 TenThousand Projects, LLC.

The initial design, grew and blossomed from this point of beginning (below)…eventually leading to the final artwork above.

Stephen Gibb’s initial design artwork for “LIFE’S A TRIP”

More on Stephen Gibb – Facebook – Instagram
More on Trippie
Stephen Gibb credit – Allmusic.com

Back to Gallery

The post Life’s a Trip appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Frog Prince At The Gates Of Decay

Frog Prince Anatomy: Analytical dissection of The Frog Prince At The Gates Of Decay

To understand the motivation and source of my Frog Prince painting’s inspiration it’s probably best to break it apart and examine the bits close-up.

The Frog Prince or the Prince Frog
The central figure is the frog prince, which was chosen because of my interest in the ambiguity of characters. Is he a prince or is he a frog? Is he a prince who has been turned into a frog or is he a frog who may get turned into a prince. He occupies both states in my mind, like Schrodinger’s cat, both dead and alive, a symbol of potential. As well, the frog has many symbolic meanings to various cultures, including good luck and fertility.

Crowning Glory
Adorned by a multi-faced crown, his status signifier is ambiguous with its conflicting expressions ranging from angry to neutral to happy. Again, the uncertainty, the beguiling nature of emotions or states in flux appeals to me deeply and should register in the viewer’s mind as a point of contemplation. Crowns have always symbolised a certain status/prestige kind of theme to me, which is easily lumped into the whole ego/esteem domain and a fun territory to explore. Above the crown hovers the spectre of death, clearly glancing to the left hand side of the painting for reasons that will soon be made apparent.

Splitting Up the Estate
If the painting is bisected down the middle it gets thematically divided, with despair and decay on the left and prosperity and abundance on the right. Though this may be a trite dichotomy, I feel like the use of new symbols and standard conventions opens up a fresh way of looking at things.

Time in Chains
The tall figure on the left is the spectre of time as a grandfather clock, trudging under the weight of his chains like Marley’s ghost—anchored to the sins of his past. This is a little play on the word zeitgeist (time ghost/spirit) but also establishes the themes of despair (his ghostly obligation, condemned to carry his burden) and decay (the by-product of passing time) also shows in his forlorn expression as he watches his hand (hands of time) disintegrate.

I have No Mouth and I Must BBQ
On the far left is a dinosaur engaged in the futile task of grilling a steak he cannot eat, since he has no mouth and his entire head is an eyeball. His eye is clearly bigger than his stomach, which means he wants more than he can actually have. Prehistoric creatures fall into the theme of despair and decay without even trying. They are extinct, long-gone figments of the past, which again tie into the theme of time.

Venus of Willendorf: The Barren Fertility Goddess
The Venus of Willendorf (c. 25,000 BC) is speculatively attributed to be a fertility goddess, an object that through sympathetic magic would bestow to those associated with it, abundance and fertility. It is however made of stone, and to western culture, stone is more synonymous with death than fecundity. Nestled to the Venus’s stone breast is the skull of an infant, sardonically positioned to suckle in an absurd pantomime

Crappy Birthday
At the bottom left is a decomposing birthday cake, frosting putrefying and candles that typically denote the years and the passing of time, askew and blinding the cake’s agonized face.

Perverse Playthings
At the bottom left is also a pull-toy in the form of a housefly. Contrasting the cute and cuddly with the vile and repulsive, flies stand for decay in a way that makes them uniquely qualified as experts. Their maggot offspring thrive on decay and as adults they frequent spots of disgust to lay their eggs and socialize. I like the humour of the toy/food relationship too. The toy is arguable the frog’s and also a housefly would typically be a food for the frog.

Spare Me Some Cutter?
The old, emaciated man reaches inside the frog’s mouth for a morsel or is the frog biting his arm? An act of desperation seems more likely, given the meagre meal the old man would offer. The lengths someone will go for survival including eminent peril, makes the act more heroic than pitiful.

Melting Moon/Crumbling Column
C’mon, I don’t have to spell it out for you…do I?

Magic Money Carpet Ride in the Land of Milk and Honey
One of the only characters inhabiting the painting that seems to be enjoying himself is the milk glass. Even though he is carelessly spilling himself for the shear fun of the flight he is exemplary of wanton waste, conspicuous display and the thrill-seeking nature of wealth. His honey sidekick seems to be just along for the ride but his stoic demeanour is part of his blasé personae—everything is too boring—been there, done that.

The All-Consuming Octopus
This creature devours the landscape, just as we carelessly plunder ours for resources at risk of depletion. When there is plenty to be had we seldom consider a time when there would be otherwise. In his tentacles are spoons (silver?) one of which is using its own spoon to sample the meal. In some way this is a comment on subservience, each subsequent link gets a smaller portion.

Mr. Money bags
Clearly filled to near bursting, Mr. Money Bags is not content with his station, turning out his pockets in horror that there isn’t more. Greed becomes a poisonous motivation for many who are in financially secure situations. The need for more begets the need for more…

Pot O’ Gold
Yes that’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow on the right. If the arc of the rainbow is followed to the left hand side of the painting it leads to a bucket of slop.

Hello Dolly
The frog neglectfully ignores the doll draped over its arm. The doll appears to be “dead”, with cartoon Xs for eyes and comports a limp posture. A doll is a surrogate for the real thing and thankfully the frog is only lord over a pretend baby, since his attention is obviously directed to his more self-interested distractions.

Return to main gallery

Originally posted at:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/stephen-gibb/work-in-progressthe-frog-prince/1382002881883751/

Bubblegum Surrealism: Stephen Gibb – Artist Statement concerning pop surrealism in Canada as a contemporary Canadian artist. Canadian art is a fractured story of borrowing and appropriation from all cultures. Canadian Surrealism is the category what I most often associate my art with.

The post Anatomy of The Frog Prince At The Gates Of Decay appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Canadian cuisine: What is truly Canadian?
These are not easily answered questions, since so much of what Canada boasts as cultural signifiers have been adopted from it’s big sibling, the USA. The close proximity of the US and the cultural dominance of American culture in western society have often eclipsed the accomplishments and advances made here in Canada.

One thing I wanted to do in honour (notice this the Canadian spelling of honor) of our 150th birthday is paint tributes to Canadian foods—items often associated as being invented here and commonplace enough to establish a certain national identity with these items.

Maple Syrup

Butter Tart

Poutine

Nanaimo Bar

Canadian Bacon (back bacon) and Peameal bacon
Everyone always sites this as a Canadian cuisine item but I thought it was just too gross to paint.

Return to main gallery

The post Canadian cuisine appeared first on Stephen Gibb.

Pop Art Peanut Butter

Pop Art Popsicle

Pop Art Reese Peanut Butter Cup

Pop Art Happy Candy

Pop Art Happy Cookie

Pop Art Donut

Pop Art Dorito

Pop Art Happy Pie

Pop Art Dopamine

Return to main gallery

Thank you for joining us in the off-kilter world of Stephen Gibb, where surrealism and Mother Goose are turned on their heads. Take time to explore and ponder his mysterious paintings, that delve into the anxieties and joys of contemporary life, his musing on human behaviour, philosophy, and the innermost workings of his angular mind. Let’s hear from the artist himself…

(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 commentary 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, pretentious and funny at the same time. The work holds
a certain reverence and faithfulness to mimicking reality but leans far enough away 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 exploding 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 wood panels always adds an interesting luminous vitality to the final
piece. Pop Surrealism meets Pop Art

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. pop art peanut butter, pop surrealism peanut butter, pop art cookie, pop surrealism cookie, pop art popsicle, pop surrealism popsicle,

Canadian Pop Surrealism meets Pop Art

Pop Surrealism meets Pop Art appeared first on Stephen Gibb.