steph schweitzer
“My growth as an artist is directly related to joining the gallery. I’m primarily a photographer-artist, but now that I’ve been talking, listening, looking and learning from other artists, painters, sculptors... I’m exploring photography from those perspectives.”
LES USTENSILES - November 2020
Steph’s first show at the gallery was a collection of photographs of common kitchen utensils.
"Utensils was an exploration in composition and lighting, tied to a theme of 'enshrining the insignificant’ … to glorify so-called mundane things."
“I was interested in stripping down the composition to a single object… a whisk or a spatula. Once that was established, I concentrated on the lighting to isolate the object from the background. The casual viewer will recognize that it’s a spatula and not care how it was photographed, but if you practice lighting and photography you’ll see that these images raise a few questions about the process."
FLOWER WARS - May 2022
"Flower Wars came about through an intense exploration in my black box studio. A completely light-less space where I can compose and light scenes, leaving me free to work any time... day or night. I can set up a scene, stand back, think about it... re-visit it later. I learned that from my painter friends... take a break, come back to it. I find that working this way I'm more deliberate/thoughtful about the outcome ... while asking myself... Does it need anything else?
For the Flower Wars show I was playing with projections, mirrors, lighting... and flowers. I cut, pressed and dried flowers and plants of all sizes.. from tiny zinnias to 6-foot thistles. From there I assembled them into depictions of war.”
Collectively, the series became a documentation of an imaginary world where species of flowers were at war with each other. In a sense, the images became ‘war photographs’ depicting such atrocities as Forced Labor, Family Separation and Torture.
VIRUS! - October 2023
“My third show at the gallery was entitled VIRUS!. I was playing with adding food coloring to clear glue to create non-representational, but organic looking images. To me, they started taking on the appearance of cells, amoebas, paramecium, etc. And since we had all gone through the experience of the Pandemic, I thought of the other viruses out there. The ones created by humans.”
Steph’s VIRUS! show was a popular installation in the gallery. By hanging large black fabric from the ceiling, he created a maze that encouraged the audience to meander through the gallery. The large artwork that hung from the ceiling was mounted on translucent material and lit from behind. Towards the back of the gallery Steph installed three lanterns lit by color-changing LED lighting.
“I have always been a supporter of social justice, which for me means treating all people with dignity and respect. The VIRUS! show was an opportunity to depict some of the ‘viruses’ we humans have created, including Single-Use Plastics, School Shootings, Domestic Violence, Toxic Friends, etc.
OCTOBER 2025
October 2025 Steph will have his fourth show at the gallery.
“For the past two years I’ve been playing with a lot of ideas and techniques… and I’m still exploring, so I have no idea what the October show will look like. I have a small-ish installation to show. I'd love to tie that into an overall theme perhaps? I've reached out to a few artist friends who are great but rarely show so I'm definitely going to dedicate a bit of the space to that."