At the core of Australian artist Stefan Dunlop’s work is a prima facie love of painting. For Dunlop, the skill, execution and craft of painting are a subject to be explored visually in themselves. His large canvasses feature a myriad of painting techniques including variable paint thickness (additive and subtractive colour, glazes and opaque areas), abstract qualities in paint application, a looseness to the handling of paint and original and unexpected colour combinations. In order to keep his work fresh the artist insists on the importance of randomness, spontaneity and chance within the work and is wary of repetition both within one canvas and a more widely in any series.
However, the artist’s fascination with the act of painting and its materials does not prohibit a level of narrative in the work. Far from abstract, the paintings often feature developed compositional arrangements. Recently Dunlop completed a painting series showing figures in conflict. Based on riot imagery, the subject appealed to the artist’s interest in media exposure to conflict in the Middle East and his love of historical painting depicting violent myth. Through the painting process the narrative becomes elusive and manipulated, sometimes ending up several times removed from the source material. Dunlop recognises the irony in such a process and that the relationship of artist to subject, or even viewer to subject is never straightforward.
The artist has exhibited widely throughout Australia since 2002, when he graduated from studies at Slade Art School in London and Chelsea School of Art. He has won several prizes Australia and in 2010 will take up the position of Artist in Residence at Texas University.
