Featured Artist Stephen Prior

Artist Stephen Prior’s Deconstructed Series uses geometric shapes to explore themes of connectivity and harmony. Learn more about his concept by visiting his website.

 

 

Creativity is a wonderful gift.

 

 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been intensely passionate about two things—drawing and creating stories. As a child, I spent endless hours at the dining room table (my own creative island) immersed in the colours and shapes of my visual world.

My love of illustration led me to university, where I studied art and design. My passion for storytelling, combined with my freshly honed art and design skills, helped me land my first job as an art director in an advertising agency.

 

 

The “Down Under” dilemma of living on a far-flung continent made me yearn to connect with the wider world. So I bought a one-way ticket and, with backpack and portfolio in hand, headed into the great unknown.

For the following two decades I travelled the globe. I worked at advertising agencies in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Zurich, Budapest, New York, New Delhi, Moscow and Seoul.

 

 

During this creative journey, I was surprised and impressed by the dualistic nature of my experience. I could feel intensely connected with different cultures and communities and yet, at times, so incredibly isolated. These conflicting emotions of togetherness and separation fascinated me. They are the inspiration behind my Deconstructed series—a series that explores the concept of connectivity, individuality and harmony through deconstruction.

 

 

To bring this concept to life, I use oblique perspective geometric art. My initial thoughts are captured on paper in the form of rough sketches and then crafted into geometric digital artwork. Geometric art is a style I’ve gravitated towards since my university days. I love its purity, precision and perfection.

 

 

Over the years, I’ve developed a colour palette infused with the visual influences of my travels. It combines the cool hues of northern Europe with the bright tones of South Korea.

 

 

My subject matter is a selection of everyday objects that symbolise daily life, work and love—our emotions, tastes, hobbies, habits, jobs, pets, passions and simple pleasures—transformed into stylised graphic icons.

 

 

The graphic icons are then carefully deconstructed, giving the elements room to breathe. They emphasize each shape’s individuality and uniqueness.

 

 

By delicately reconnecting the components with fine lines, the collective form is brought back to life, while maintaining the individuality of the elements which make it whole.

 

 

Just as in life, work and love, every element is essential and dualistic in nature—plural and singular. Together and apart. Everything is Connected.

 

Artist Stephen Prior invites you to follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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