ARTISTS

Stephen Frew

A native of Calgary, Alberta, Stephen Frew studied a variety of fine arts including printmaking, photography, sculpture, drawing and painting. In 2002, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction and a major in printmaking.

In the years that followed, Stephen participated in several art shows including a solo show entitled, “Portraits of Him” at Gallery San Chun in Calgary. Unsure about his future in the fine arts, in 2003 Stephen enrolled in the Vancouver Film school to explore new and more modern media. Missing the individual expression and intimacy of the traditional fine arts methods, he left after completing the foundation one year program.

Returning to fine arts studies, Stephen pursued a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Studio Arts at Concordia University where he again concentrated his studies on printmaking, specifically intaglio. Following his thesis show entitled “i am not archival”, Stephen graduated from Concordia’s MFA program in the summer of 2009.

Today Stephen continues his love of traditional fine art as a professional artist in Ottawa, Ontario. His work has recently been featured at both the Orange Art Gallery and the Patrick John Mills Gallery. He is also actively involved with Ottawa's Basement Artists.

Stephen's current work is mainly figurative using a variety of media including oil, acrylic, india ink and pen. He is strongly influenced by the work of many great 20th and 21st century artists including Francis Bacon’s use of darkness, colour and the flux between abstraction and figure, Lucien Freud’s brushwork, texture and examination of flesh, and Egon Schiele’s line, colour, distortion of figure and examination of self. He is also an admirer of Kathe Kollwitz’s dark and honest drawings and prints as well as Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings.

For more, visit www.stephenfrew.ca