UPwithART 2.0 - 24-30 May 2020

Mark Stebbins

Title Hex Edit (2018)
Medium Acrylic ink on wood panel
Image Size 6 x 6 in.

Value: $900

Artist Bio:

Mark Stebbins is an artist based in London, Ontario. Working primarily in acrylic, his abstract paintings combine references to craft, fine art and digital imaging. Solo exhibitions of his paintings have been held at Galerie Simon Blais, Montreal (2017), Wil Kucey Gallery, Toronto (2016), Latcham, Gallery, Stouffville (2014), Galerie PICI, Seoul, South Korea (2013), Galerie BAC, Montreal (2012). Awards include Honourable Mention in the RBC Canadian Painting Competition (2010), Best in Exhibition and Best in Drawing at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (2010), Halifax Mayor’s Award of Distinction in Contemporary Visual Arts (2009). Stebbins’ work is featured in Canadian and international collections, including the Canada Council Art Bank, RBC Royal Bank of Canada and the Halifax Regional Municipality. He holds a BFA from Western University and an LL.B. from Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University.

Artist Statement:

‘I work primarily in acrylic to create abstract paintings that refer to craft, fine art and digital imaging. I’m particularly interested in memory, data remanence, translation and error. The glitch aesthetic in much of my work acts as a metaphor for both a playful approach to data (intentional glitches) as well as the impossibility of holding onto information and experience indefinitely (unintentional glitches). In this painting, “Hex Edit,” I created a digital drawing, then manipulated the underlying data in the file to partially corrupt the image in an unpredictable way. I painted the results by hand on a wood panel, overlaying a plaid pattern in a ROYGBIV gradient of colours using 128 custom mixed colours of ink.’