Original artwork description:

'Tangle' intricately weaves together themes of nature's entanglement with humanity and the complex interplay of perception and reality. At its core, the painting depicts a tangled mass of serpents ensnared within the sinuous branches of a towering tree, their sleek forms twisting and coiling against a backdrop of vibrant foliage.

What sets this artwork apart is its deliberate manipulation of visual elements to challenge the viewer's conventional understanding of depth and space. While the sinewy bodies of the snakes appear to stand out against the flat leaves, Stephenson disrupts the illusion of depth by introducing flat areas of color that defy traditional notions of the picture plane. This juxtaposition of depth and flatness creates a dynamic tension that draws the viewer deeper into the scene, compelling them to confront the inherent complexity of the natural world.

The painting is started by staining the canvas with pigments and then later stretched over the wooden frame before being primed with rabbit skin glue and painted with oil paints. This process of abstraction to figuration informs the final forms and textures in the painting.

Materials used:

Oil paint and natural pigments on canvas

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