New York Exhibition @ Thomas VanDyke Gallery
January 22, 2024
Steve recently held his first solo exhibition in New York City “The Figure Renewed”. The works selected by gallery Director Thomas VanDyke highlighted Lopes’s poetic portrayals of the figure in place. Having trained in New York earlier in the artist’s career, Lopes was pleased to return to NYC – a place which was pivotal in forming the artist’s practice and view of the importance of the figure in his art.
“The Figure Renewed” exhibited, March 14 until April 5th
enquiries @ Thomas VanDyke Gallery , 434 39th Street, Brooklyn NY, 11232, USA
https://thomasvandyke.com/upcoming-exhibitions#/steve-lopes/
AGNSW Talk
October 9, 2023
Steve recently spoke at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The Artist in conversation series with Maria Stoljar, host and producer of the Talking with painters podcast, presented an in conversation with figurative landscape painter Steve Lopes about his creative practice. The talk is available to online at the AGNSW website (link below)
Artists in conversation online :: Art Gallery of New South Wales (nsw.gov.au)
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/events/artists-in-conversation-online/
‘Shapes For Gods’
August 21, 2023
Media release –
Exhibition @ Mitchell Fine Art – Brisbane
10 October – 4 November 2023
“One of the abiding features of Lopes’ work is its powerful humanism. He is interested in the everyday rather than the exceptional. He tries to get under the skin of a place by looking at the way ordinary people go about their daily activities.”
John McDonald, Australia’s leading art critic, April 2022
Over the past 25 years, Steve Lopes has had more than 45 solo exhibitions across Australia and around the world. In 2022, his touring survey show, ‘Encountered’, with accompanying book, was held at Sydney’s SH Ervin Gallery and toured to Orange Regional Gallery to great acclaim. Lopes has been awarded numerous art prizes, including the Gallipoli Art Award and the prestigious King’s School Art Prize. His work is held in numerous institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia and Parliament House Canberra.
In this new series, Lopes thinks deeply about the world around him and excitedly tries to express it visually. These ambitious new works aim to show people in the natural world now, with their new realities and accompanying paraphernalia. The artist himself says; “Sometimes the figure is stripped bare, sometimes totally absent, leaving behind only remnants of their existence. I am trying to capture and reveal the secrets and stories behind these eclectic subjects through their connections to objects, icons and their encompassing surroundings.”
The paintings are colourful, free and unafraid. Filled with curiosity, the artist’s growing fluency aims to bridge worlds between reality and memory, and to reveal a strange, difficult truth both materially and subliminally through paint.
Lopes’s figurative works are uniquely his own, with a sought-after, highly recognisable style. These new works have a life of their own, and with each work comes a rush of great perception and insight.
Register your interest @www.mitchellfineartgallery.com
Encountered – New book available to order
April 5, 2022
‘Steve Lopes’ work is enormously diverse in imagery and content. It is a celebration of the enduring spirit of humanity and the power of connection.’ Anne Ryan, senior curator AGNSW
Steve Lopes Encountered was a survey exhibition of over 80 paintings from 2003 to 2021. It recently showed at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, and at the Orange Regional Gallery. A new book accompanying the exhibition is available from the galleries’ stores for $35.
Steve Lopes is a Sydney-based painter known for his figurative landscapes. He often works en plein air, painting vignettes of places that are used as references for large-scale studio works.
Curated by Kon Gouriotis, the exhibition considered how the artist reflects on our age of complexity, volatility and crisis through thematic narratives of migration and place, of the body on the land and the land without body. The emergence of voids, barriers and paths that appear and reappear play an important role in Lopes’ work, and provide insights into his philosophy regarding representation and the social and art context through which his scenes of harshness and kindness emerge.
Book available for $35 from S.H. Ervin shop and Orange Regional Gallery.
or order directly at: lopesstudio@gmail.com
Online: https://www.shervingallery.com.au/shop-books/
Steve Lopes- Encountered. Survey Exhibitions 2022
January 10, 2022
Steve Lopes’ work was the subject of a major exhibition surveying a quarter-century of his work.
“Steve Lopes’ work is enormously diverse in imagery and content. It is a celebration of the enduring spirit of humanity and the power of connection.” Anne Ryan, senior curator, AGNSW
Encountered was a major survey exhibition of works from 1997 to 2021, including rarely seen drawings, prints and collages, together with the artist’s diaries and drawing books. Curated by Kon Gouriotis, the exhibition considers how the artist reflects on our age of complexity, volatility and crisis through thematic narratives of migration and place, the body on the land and the land without the body, providing thoughtful insights into his philosophy.
The show included 120 works, with more than 80 paintings, and rarely seen drawings, prints and collages. Anne Ryan, curator of Australian Art at the AGNSW, recently wrote of the show “Steve Lopes is an artist who finds himself at once everywhere and nowhere. An inveterate traveller since his youth, his insatiable curiosity for new experiences drives his art and desire to tell stories, connecting the threads of history and place with the people who have shaped them.”
Steve Lopes- Encountered: exhibited at SH Ervin Gallery, 26 March until 8 May 2022
https://www.shervingallery.com.au
& Orange Regional Gallery , 20 May until 16 July 2022
https://www.orange.nsw.gov.au/gallery/
Order the 130page fully Illustrated Catalogue @ lopes_studio
Kings School Art Prize Winner
May 25, 2021
Orange Venus – Winner of the 27th King’s Art Prize.
Steve recently won the Prestigous Kings School Art Award. This prize-winning work in the form of oil on canvas relates to Steve Lopes connection with the Central Western town of Orange in NSW. The figures, set at Lake Canobolas, depicts the artist’s affinity for the area, evoking a spiritual sense of interaction between the figures and environment. The artist’s experience of witnessing the Transit of Venus in Orange years ago inspired his celestial motifs, capturing a magical and serene narrative.
Over the last 27 years, The King’s School Art Prize has proudly included such artists and prize winners as: Aida Tomescu, John Olsen, Nicholas Harding, Gloria Petyarre, Ross Laurie, Euan Macleod and Peter Godwin to name a few.
Artist Profile – Front Cover
September 28, 2020
Steve was recently the main feature artist for the latest Artist Profile magazine, one of Australia’s most respected art journals.Currently available from www.artistprofile.com.au/category/back-issues/.
Artists as Collectors – SH ERVIN Gallery
November 22, 2019
Steve was invited to exhibit a selected number of his personal art collection which went on view at Sydney’s SH Ervin gallery at the end of 2019. It comprised many works from the artists associations, colleagues and friends.
Artists as Collector,
exhibited 23rd November until 15th December 2019
S H Ervin Gallery- Observatory Hill, 2 Watson Rd, Millers Point NSW 2000
2019 Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards & Peebles Print Prize 2019
July 25, 2019
Russell’s Top Gallipoli, Unique State Etching 42 x 60cm
2019 Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards & Peebles Print Prize 2019
Steve was recently selected as a finalist in a number of prestigious print awards in Victoria. The Geelong Acquisitive Print Awards and The Peebles Print Prize 2019 showcase the diverse contemporary Australian printmaking practice.
The selection panel for the 2019 Geelong acquisitive print awards includes Danny Lacy (Senior Curator, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery), Trent Walter (Director, Negative Press), and Lisa Sullivan (Senior Curator, Geelong Gallery).
September 21 until November 24
Geelong Acquisitive Print Award, Geelong Gallery 55 Little Malop Street , Geelong 3220 Australia
September 21 until November 24
Peebles Print Prize 2019, Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop (QG&W) 81 Hesse Street Queenscliff VIC 3225
Talking With Painters Podcast
June 12, 2018
Steve was recently interviewed for the award winning art podcast Talking With Painters. Listen to the interview which gives insights into Steve’s working methods at:
www.talkingwithpainters.com/2018/06/03/ep-47-steve-lopes/