Steve is a Seattle based artist who lives in West Seattle, but grew up all around the Puget Sound area.
The first thing he remembers drawing were bats on his parents walls with a purple crayon. Not much has changed since then. Straight out of art school he went into the printing trade which provides sustenance but leaves him with not as much time painting monsters and angels as he would want. This leaves only nights and weekends to descend to the Mad Scientist lab. The last public show he had was 10 years ago after which he fell down a rabbit hole, but now ascends with a lot of paintings he has made during that period.
I am an artist and illustrator living in Seattle, Washington.
I usually begin a painting after a particular image nags at me.
Putting it down on canvas brings relief until the next image.
I usually play with fantasy imagery, most of the time images that haunt me from my childhood with its stories and movies.
Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Dracula or sometimes
just daydreams, changing what seems ordinary to something strange and exotic.
I enjoy the relief that nonsense (seemingly) and the absurd bring to what can
be at times an all too serious and self important existence.
I could call what I do Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Suess cross dressing,
The Addams family hard at work in Willy Wonkas factory,
or maybe Candy Goth? But it’s really just me playing.
Statement on "Sweet 100":
The Dracula series: My first art "frisson" growing up was watching monster movies late at night and loving the feeling of being scared. It was a feeling of being out of control and in control all at the same time. The first hint to a child that parents were not all powerful beings and that crazy and horrible things could happen to you at any time. Dracula was my first encounter with horror literature and it's over the top imagery is something I never tire of. Growing up a Mormon, I could identify with its sexually repressive Victorian frame of reference. That, and it's a damn good read.
