Artist profile: Stephen Appleby-Barr

An artist profile of Stephen Appleby-Barr.

Can you talk a little about your upcoming show The Invisible College? What are your inspirations behind it?

As far as themes go, this and the last show was inspired by such things as Fraternity, alchemy, history. Painters that I have been informed by include Rembrandt, Velazquez and Sargent.

The Invisible College is my attempt to provide an imagined ‘backstory’ to the fraternity I started with friends in college. The Invisible College was a way esoteric secret societies referred to their teachings. Initiates were sometimes referred to as students of the invisible college.

Have you found it difficult painting in a classical style in a contemporary art scene?

I wouldn’t say I’ve found it difficult. It feels like people interested in painting are usually keen to see classical approaches. It speaks to painting’s history and traditions. Many important advances in painting come out of a direct response to the classics. It seems to me that innovation and tradition are two sides of the same coin. I see what I’m doing as a kind of History painting, or something like falsified documents. Using classical aesthetics gives me a reason to further my investigations into the classics and the history of painting.

I used to work in an art supply store for a really long time, and I am always curious what materials artists use for their work, I think it says alot about an artist. What kind of brushes and paint did you use for The Invisible College?

In my first show I used Alkyds by W&N. I used them because I was intimidated by using real oils. I’d never used oils, and we never touched them in school. It was very daunting to think that I was going to attempt anything even approaching classical oil painting. After the relative success of that show, I decided to make some changes to my materials. I bought portrait grade linen hand stretched everything over archive friendly pine stretcher bars and after doing some research decided on Old Holland oils for paint with M.Graham Walnut alkyd as a medium.

Do you do preliminary drawings?

Yes. The images are based on 1800’s daguerreotypes I find in various historical archives and books. When I find one that suggests the themes of the show I try to find a way to alter it that will involve my own mythology. Classical history painting would work the opposite way. A painter would find a mythology and build an image around it. I find an image and build a mythology around it.

When are you most productive?

That changes alot depending on conditions. I no longer stay up until 5am painting. On good days, I can work from 12 noon to 10 at night. Closer to the show, everyday has to be a good day.

How do you divide your time between collective work with Team Macho and your solo work? Is it difficult to balance the two?

It’s really great to be able to do both. As long as you can be really forthcoming about what you’ve committed yourself to they don’t really interfere with each other. I feel very fortunate to be able to pursue painting as a lifestyle and career. It’s alot of really hard work and requires a serious commitment. If you’re responsible, and driven the balance comes naturally.

You went to Sheridan to study and you currently work at OCAD, what was your experience like at Sheridan? From what I have heard from graduates, it seems like Sheridan is more competitive than OCAD. What are your thoughts?

This is a really hard question to answer… Coming out of one place as a student and going into the other as a teacher gives me an interesting perspective. One that might not be widely useful. I’ll say that it’s not where you are, it’s who you’re with that ultimately matters.

What are your thoughts on the Toronto art scene compared to everywhere else you’ve experienced?

I haven’t really experienced any other art scenes. The Toronto art scene feels like a port from which artists launch their boats into the wider water’s of the world. The idea that there needs to be a scene from which artists concentrate their efforts seems outdated to me. It seems like something that was important at one time, like 50’s post war New York, when you had to ‘be there’ in order to ‘get it’. Now people say Berlin is the place to be. My friends in London seem to have quite a strong scene going, and Montreal at one point seemed the same way.

I don’t know… I like visiting my friends in Toronto who draw or paint, but I don’t really know much about the scene. The scenery of my studio is what informs me most. I don’t even like looking out the window when I’m working.

What are you currently obsessed with? Any blogs, pod casts, films, artists?

Current obsession is acquiring audiobooks to listen to while working. I’m after this Story of Civilization by Will Durant. Audiobooks are my one claim to literacy. I’m trying to learn more about opera set design. I’m hoping to build some small scale stages to do paintings from.

I really like the work of Douglas Walker. He is an alchemist. I’m often thinking about rope these days. Like the kind you’d see on a tall ship.

What are some of your favorite spots in the city? Some favourite places to go, eat, drink, bike ride?

I love going to Terroni on queen when I can. I also love looking at the clothes at Sydney’s (Men’s clothier) across the street. He makes really good selections for his shop. It’s like the Canadian equivalent of the 1800’s French dandy dresser in there. I usually drink up at the gem (davenport and ossington) it’s so close to the studio. It’s my cedar tavern. I plan my day around making it up there for last call.

Any last words?

I think it will be a good winter.[rssbreak]