Throughout his early education, local artist Steve
Norris always had to choose between his strengths
in Design and Mathematics, like studying Further Maths
at A-level at the expense of Art. But a new course
at Bournemouth was at last the perfect mix of his
two strengths, combining life drawing, animation,
maths and even computer programming. He left with
a first class honours degree.
Now after spending 9 years as an artist, art lead
and producer in the computer games industry, Steve
paints full time.
It’s perhaps no surprise that with his background,
Steve’s painting style combines the two disciplines
of Art and Mathematics, and uses a computer in the
process.
“The computer is a vital tool for my
work. I find this stage the most creative part of
the process, where I can explore ideas and colour
schemes committing paint to canvas.”
Although early works were treatments of imagery from
popular culture, Steve is now purely focused on abstract
works, and those based upon his own initial imagery,
be that wildlife, architecture or people. Most pieces
start life as a photograph taken by the artist.
"I find the photography-to-computer-to-canvas
path like a Chinese Whisper, with opportunities at
each stage of the analogue-to-binary-to-analogue process
for the concept to evolve and improve. "
Steve’s style of painting is very much one
of accuracy and meticulous detail.
“I’m a very methodical person,
at home with mundane, repetitive tasks. I find this
at odds with other artists who prefer to paint with
freedom and expression of their immediate thoughts.
This difference makes my work unique.”
“I paint like I have always worked
– iteratively. I start with a big brush, and
the composition is pretty much there after a few days.
But each day, the brush gets smaller as I get more
accurate, until the last few days when from a distance
the image barely seems to change. But I know my attention
to the sharp acute angle, sharpening of the straight
lines and unifying the coverage of colour blocks is
vital in achieving my own closure to the finished
piece.”
The resulting imagery is usually abstract, composed
of barely recognisable geometric shapes when viewed
close up, but discernable as whole at distance. It
takes people different amounts of time to figure out
what they are looking at, but when it clicks, they
have more attachment.
“I find comfort in final result, and
especially the pure flat blocks of rich colour. I
enjoy the aesthetic of adjoining blocks of colour
butting up against each other, and the more crisply
the better. I like not drawing attention to the brush
strokes. I like the final results.”
