Curatorial Rationale

Steve S.

In this exhibition, I aim to give the viewer profound insights into parts of my character and life experiences, via various aesthetic expressions on canvas, paper and in 3D form. In this way, I am exploring the theme of how others may understand our unique identity through our self-expression.

With the first piece, the audience is presented with a graphite sketch of Myself. This piece is displayed first because it introduces the audience to me as a person, with uniquely placed objects in the frame. The first piece expresses my love and passion for basketball and music. Using Jim Golden's style of portraying beloved objects, this artwork creates an intriguing atmosphere for the audience when viewing Myself, as they learn more about myself. His style makes good use of space and dimension, demonstrating my attempt to represent this to the audience.

The second piece is a photographic collage, Focused Player and the Wanderer. The right side shows the backboard and net of the basketball trajectory. The wanderer's perspective admires the view of the driveway, focused on the street lights, plants, pavement patterns, leaves and potted flowers. This piece is arranged so the audience can see varying perspectives as they experience the exhilarating feeling of playing basketball. A pedestrian walking by may feel tranquil and harmonious feelings, through Hockney’s perspectives and use of space.

The third piece is House of Memories. I wanted to convey details about myself using the expressive imagery of Lee Quinones and Do Ho Suh’s physical styles. The artwork consists of unique personal experiences throughout different stages of my life. This explores my theme of self-expression through the expressive nature of Quinones via graffiti letterings and the nostalgic nature of Suh’s architectural style to my work, achieving clear communication with the audience.

The fourth artwork, G.O.A.T Story, represents realistic train graffiti and illustrates my personal outlook on different real-world experiences faced. Techniques of Steven D Ogburn are incorporated with various contrasting/complementary colours. I emphasize different characters in the murals, achieving aesthetically a pleasing harmonic artwork for the viewers. Furthermore, with Ogburn’s fearless way of expressing his desires, I was able to explicitly convey my emotions with various words and characters.

The next piece, Call Me Back is influenced by artist Banksy, and it shows how teenagers in our current society have strong experiences during the adolescence stage of life. The emotion of love is explored in the multiple romance-related messages. With Banksy’s explicit imitationalism and realism throughout his artworks, I was inspired to express the overall emotions and different thoughts that one could have during teenage years.

Pursue Greatness is a graffiti mural inspired by Patrick O'Keefe and Lee Quinones. Applying Quinones’ “throw-up” lettering varying in size, colour, shadow and highlights, with O’Keefe’s unique wild style of bright colours and the use of realism in certain aspects, show a silver silhouette situated in the center, representing myself. Design features express uncertainty and randomness to the audience, with the confusion and lost aspect of this character.

The seventh piece, The Thinker, is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. Utilizing the style of Realism, I was able to capture the thinker statue in great detail. This matches my theme of self-expression with Da Vinci's realism. As the audience views the collection of my exhibition, they realize my mind is unpredictable and imaginative. The Thinker statue symbolizes understanding and a creative mind at work.

In the final piece, Broken, the audience can understand me on a more personal level, understanding expressions and emotions by pop culture and PEZ's graffiti style. Viewers can discover my personal experiences with the world as it is "falling apart". They can interpret my background, personal experiences and emotions through graffiti representations as my outer layers are breaking apart. This art piece has many allusions and double entendres, where one concept could have another meaning. Overall, this art piece allows newcomers to know me and longtime friends to understand me better.