PROFILE

 

Born in 1967.  Lives in Luton, England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Whiting works with a broad range of materials and mediums, and has continued to do so since his graduation from the Cheltenham School of Art in 1998, (now the University of Gloucestershire).  

This range has included paint, print, readymade, collage, textile, wood, stylus fluff, petrol receipts, soft toys, etc.

 

In his utilisation of common materials, he has:-

• rubbed the exterior paint-coating of pencils to create 'pencil-paintings'. 

• spent fifteen years collecting a particular vinyl LP record of Christmas songs, in order to create a pun on the notion of 'panic buying'.

• folded sheets of photocopied paper, in the work "Vapour Trail" (2004). 

• compiled different formats of Mars bar to create 'confectionery pan-pipes'.

 

He sees commonplace materials as fit ingredients for what he describes as his creation of 'alchemic paradox'.  

They may be everyday objects, but their real power is in Whiting's alteration and manipulation.  

In his work, humour sometimes prevails, but often raising hollow laughter in an endless series of well-considered 'half-jokes'.

 

He has used office stationery to make statements about the repetitive systems which hold sway over our working lives:- 

• A wall of 240 sheets of A4 file paper painted thick with gloss paint,

• ‘hand-rolled’ sellotape,

• 'hand-stacked' post-it notes,

• the final, spluttering resource from failing, used-up pens.   

 

These all form the work of a human hand over the machine-made, in an attempt to counter, without necessarily being able to match, machine production.  

The work is represented by small marks; the ant-sized gestures, rather than the elephantine ones.  The imitative, yet faulty, human touch.

 

The weight of these significantly small actions can also, in the right quantity, register on the scale of the grandiose.   It is their gradual progression towards the monumental form which, for Whiting, represents an unexpected and revengeful retaliation.  A paradox, where humanity comes through.

 

He uses found matter to create collage, and is happy to see litter and dirt sitting alongside oil paint and ink, as materials for his art.  They combine to produce a 'back-handed compliment' to the traditions of art.  

Somehow, they still deal with beauty, composition and magic.

 

As with his photography, these collage pieces obsess with the tension caused by combinations of composition and colour.

 

Drawing remains at the core of his practice.

 

As an ex-dustman, roadsweeper and accountant he studied painting at Cheltenham Art School before resettling in his home town of Luton.

 

Stephen Whiting is a co-editor of “Clod Magazine”, a satirical publication now in its 27th year, and a firmly established member of the small press phenomenon. 

The basis for the 19th issue of Clod Magazine derived from the 50 collages exhibited in his solo show in Llangadog, Wales.  These comprised scraps of paper picked from the streets of a multitude of capital cities.  

For this exhibition Whiting went under the pseudonym of 'J. Hackson', one of his Clod Magazine identities.

 

He also creates documentative-style publications based on local Luton institutions, and has a role of 'Associate Publisher' at "Dekkle Print Studios" in Baldock.