a little about your artist
Stephen Doig - Artist Born in Oxford in 1964
I can look back now and say what an adventure it has been. I still have no idea what's really going on. I suspect a dozen lifetimes wouldn't be enough to scratch the surface.
It has been over thirty years since putting pencil to paper for those early sporting sketches. Much has changed since then, and those rough drawings have blossomed into something I would never have believed possible as a child with my colouring books and dot-to-dots. I'm only just getting the hang of it. There's still so much more to learn. It never gets boring. Every new project adds a little something more.
I've tried many materials over the years, and found that pastels - soft, hard, and in pencil form - give me the hands-on connection I need. I can create finer detail with a mahl stick and brush, but I need to be closer. Jagged and diffuse. Pastel gives me that.
The sporting work has been balanced over the years by the gradual development of my Eyecon pieces - something very different for me, to me, from me. Looking into a single eye in order to tell a story, or part of one. As time passes, those tales deepen, and lead me on yet another wonderful adventure.
Alternating between Eyeconic and Formula 1 keeps both expressions fresh. Both continue to evolve.
At 62, I greatly look forward to the next 62. I fully intend to make them count.
