by Steven Vinson
For more information: 517-999-1078
Inspiration for Abstraction of Weathering
My work is intended to display an honest depiction of our man made landscape with an emphasis on exploiting the formal elements within that landscape. The work I create is influenced by the unique set of circumstances that have shaped and molded who I am as a person and these circumstances include the places I have lived, the people I have met and have become friends with, the places I have been and the events I have experienced. These experiences are different for every artist and mine have led me to be drawn to a physical, man made landscape. This physicality is a direct result of being human and witnessing our process of construction and destruction.
Artist’s Biography
Steven Vinson is currently a graduate student at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI where he is obtaining his MFA in painting. His undergraduate work was done in his hometown of Indianapolis, IN at the Herron School of Art and Design where he graduated in 2008. Steven is the second of four sons and is the first of his immediate family members to graduate college. He attended public schools exclusively in Indianapolis and was lucky enough to attend a high school that had an adanced art program which helped provide basic knowledge and experience of the art world.
Steven is a painter with a straight forward approach, focusing heavily on formal principles of design and composition using a collage process with materials that include oil paint, drawing materials, newsprint, fabricated three dimensional elements and found objects. The motifs he displays in his art deal with the man-made landscape and the physical recognition we develop with these spaces. By displaying physical relief in his work he allows the viewer to feel these spaces visually. His work is influenced by several artists and groups from the twentieth century including Pablo Picasso, the Ashcan School, Edward Hopper, Robert Rauschenberg and the Cass Corridor artists from Detroit.
Recently Steven has been able to obtain gallery representation at the new City Art Gallery in Grand Rapids and earlier this year he was chosen to participate in Wet Paint, an annual juried show in Chicago for current and recent MFA candidates.
