• Living and working in London since 2017, Stephen Appleby-Barr routinely visits some of Europe’s most esteemed museums including the Courtauld Gallery, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts in London as well as the Prado Museum in Madrid. He surrounds himself with paintings by Old Masters such as Pieter Bruegel, El Greco and Diego Velázquez regularly so that their works remain “stamped all over [his] conscience” while in the studio. 

  • Stephen Appleby-Barr, Four Pearls, 2023

    Stephen Appleby-Barr

    Four Pearls, 2023
    oil on linen
    14 x 12 in.
    $ 12,000.00
  • The paintings in Night Garden are rendered in a grisaille technique, paying homage to Bruegel’s painting Christ and the Woman...
    Pieter Bruegel, Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, 1565
    oil on panel, 9.5 in × 13.5 in.
     

    The paintings in Night Garden are rendered in a grisaille technique, paying homage to Bruegel’s painting Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery, from the Courtauld’s collection. In recent years, an integral part of Appleby-Barr's creative process has been to create sculptures from clay and wire to help visualise his fantastical characters in three-dimensional spaces. Grisaille, historically used by artists to imitate sculpture in paint, is an optimal technique to work in while referencing his sculptural worlds. 

  • Stephen Appleby-Barr, Scholar's Garden, 2023

    Stephen Appleby-Barr

    Scholar's Garden, 2023
    oil on linen
    36 x 30 in.
    $ 26,000.00
    Inquire
  • Stephen Appleby-Barr, Duck Boys, 2024

    Stephen Appleby-Barr

    Duck Boys, 2024
    oil on linen
    20 x 24 in.
    $ 18,000.00
  • Stephen Appleby-Barr, Ball, Book, Bottle, Broken Vessel, 2023

    Stephen Appleby-Barr

    Ball, Book, Bottle, Broken Vessel, 2023
    oil on linen
    24 x 20 in.
    $ 18,000.00
    Inquire

  • "In an effort to get myself closer to the physical act of drawing in my paintings,  I began cutting up pieces of some old linen curtains that I had previously been using to clean off my brushes. I would cut strips of the linen and roll it into tight cylinders of varying thickness. Then I would use those to mix the paint on the palette and apply it. Not unlike an oil pastel only I had control over the amount of paint in action. The effect was immediate for me. Marks became possible that hadn’t been before. There was a sudden and direct connection to the way I thought in drawing that was now accessible with paint."

     

    - Stephen Appleby-Barr

     
  • Stephen Appleby-Barr, Refuse I, 2023

    Stephen Appleby-Barr

    Refuse I, 2023
    oil on linen
    70 3/4 x 59 in.
    $ 42,000.00
  • These large paintings were created for Échelle, Stephen Appleby-Barr's solo exhibition at Canada House Gallery in London, UK. Night Garden marks their debut in North America, accompanied by a suite of smaller works equally inspired by the grisaille technique that Appleby-Barr was drawn to in creating paintings for Échelle, as seen above.
    • Stephen Appleby-Barr Agitator, 2023 oil on linen 70 3/4 x 47 1/4 in.
      Stephen Appleby-Barr
      Agitator, 2023
      oil on linen
      70 3/4 x 47 1/4 in.
      $ 32,000.00
      Inquire
    • Stephen Appleby-Barr Builder, 2023 oil on linen 70 3/4 x 47 1/4 in.
      Stephen Appleby-Barr
      Builder, 2023
      oil on linen
      70 3/4 x 47 1/4 in.
      $ 32,000.00
      Inquire
    • Stephen Appleby-Barr Collector, 2023 oil on linen 70 3/4 x 47 1/4 in.
      Stephen Appleby-Barr
      Collector, 2023
      oil on linen
      70 3/4 x 47 1/4 in.
      $ 32,000.00
      Inquire
  • Stephen Appleby-Barr, Renconnaître, 2023

    Stephen Appleby-Barr

    Renconnaître, 2023
    oil on linen
    70 3/4 x 59 in.
    $ 42,000.00
    Inquire
  • Installation images of Stephen Appleby-Barr: Échelle at Canada House, London, UK, 2023
    (View more details about this item in a popup).
    (View more details about this item in a popup).
    (View more details about this item in a popup).
  • CATALOGUE NOW AVAILABLE TEXTS BY DANIEL STRONG & NIMCO Kulmiye Hussein $ 25.00 BUY NOW

    CATALOGUE NOW AVAILABLE

     

    TEXTS BY DANIEL STRONG & NIMCO Kulmiye Hussein

     

    $ 25.00

     

    BUY NOW

  • (View more details about this item in a popup).
    (View more details about this item in a popup).
    (View more details about this item in a popup).
    (View more details about this item in a popup).
  • ARTIST BIO Stephen Appleby-Barr’s fantasy-filled artistic practice brings together influences from the history of art and literature, his European travels,...
    ARTIST BIO
     
    Stephen Appleby-Barr’s fantasy-filled artistic practice brings together influences from the history of art and literature, his European travels, and his community of friends who gather around his studio. His work draws inspiration from a parade of sources ranging from Florentine Renaissance architecture, Dutch still-life painting, Spanish Court portraiture, and stage and costume design. Even the smallest of objects in Appleby-Barr’s works — from tiny clay figurines and tea sets to piled-up espresso cups and cloves of garlic — are conjurers of inquiry. In preparation for his paintings, Appleby-Barr constructs small sculptures and architectural maquettes to position his characters in other-worldly three-dimensional space. However, he emphasises that he does not seek to represent an “other world;” rather, he shines a light on the imperceptible worlds concealed within ours.

    Born in 1981 in Toronto, Stephen Appleby-Barr is currently based in London, England. His work has been exhibited and collected in Canada, the United States and Europe. Appleby-Barr’s remarkable facility extends to printmaking. He has created several etchings printed with world-renowned Master Printer, Gregory Burnet of Burnet Editions, and published by Nicholas Metivier Gallery. In 2023, a solo exhibition of work by Stephen Appleby-Barr was presented at the Canada House Gallery in London, UK. Running concurrently, Appleby-Barr’s Correspondence, curated by Daniel Strong at the Grinnell College Museum of Art in Iowa marked the artist’s first major institutional exhibition in the United States.