Stefan Prince

British artist Stefan has secured over the past six years a deserved reputation amongst a small number of collectors and devotees for a series of large oil paintings inspired by the French novel Story of O. Borrowing elements from the book Stefan has created a visual narrative richly colored and full of theatrical motifs such as burning candles, keys, masks, and draught blown curtains.

In darkened rooms and cloistered gardens Stefan has caught his protagonists in freeze-frame and each frame has as its focal point a semi-clad femme enfant with a sharp black 'bob' reminiscent of silent movie star Louise Brooks. Though intentionally erotic nothing is explicit and the viewer is invited to conjure his own interpretation of events, one or two of which are lifted directly from the novel.

Stefan first read the book in the 1970's shortly after it was published in Britain for the first time. By 1978 he was attempting to develop a small series of paintings inspired by the novel. Unable to achieve totally satisfying results Stefan put the 'O' project on a back burner pursuing other concerns and inspirations for eighteen years. Marks on a small canvas suggesting a face hinted at the possibility of a fully fledged 'O' series in the autumn of 1995. In his most recent work Stefan still explores the new found freedom of that initial tiny canvas and continues to seek out new ways of representing a certain eroticism not readily found elsewhere.

He can be emailed at storyofo@hotmail.co.uk

See more of Stefan's work by visiting http://www.storyofo.info/index.html

Copyright Stefan Prince© 2012