Steven J. Strang
My art focuses on real and imaginary interactions between people and the rest of the natural world. These images are an expression of my life-long fascination with archaeology, history, mythology, technology, and the natural sciences.
The paintings are often small, within the size range of cabinet paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries. The scale of the painting affects how we experience it, in the same way that a phrase whispered in your ear would be very different if it was shouted at you from across the room instead. Small paintings have an intimacy to them which reinforces the private relationship between the picture and viewer.
When I returned to painting in the early 1990’s, I studied instructional texts from the Middle Ages and Renaissance including books by Theophilus, Cennini, Hilliard, and others. I taught myself silverpoint drawing, gouache, egg tempera and oil painting from their instructions, and have applied those lessons where possible to modern media such as acrylic paints and technical pens.
Many of the pictures have a darkly whimsical feel. As one viewer remarked: “It’s like Alice in Wonderland and the Apocalypse, all at the same time!”
Biography
Steven Strang graduated from the special arts program at Canterbury High School in Ottawa with a focus on visual arts. He then took university degrees in Cultural Anthropology.
Steven’s paintings have been acquired by private collections in Canada, Europe, Australia, Latin America, and Central Asia. His historical reproductions made of antler and bone have been acquired by Parks Canada, the Smithsonian Institution, and by private collections in Canada and the USA.
Since the early 1990’s he has exhibited paintings and drawings at group shows such as The New Art Festival. He has also had solo shows at the National Museum in San Salvador and National Theatre in Santa Anna, both in El Salvador. Steven’s work was used as the poster art for two special juried shows: Grave Goods, and Reflections of the Conquest, both held at the Woodstock Museum in Ontario
Steven was given the Wallack’s Award for Best 2-D work at The New Art Festival in 2017
Steven has written and delivered professional training courses on visual thinking and visual communication for the Canadian government. He also co-authored a book chapter on visual thinking, published in: Applications of Systems Thinking and Soft Operations Research in Managing Complexity, 2016, Springer International Publishing.
Drifting. Acrylic on Panel, 8x10’