Photo of Stephen Price in his studio. Courtesy of the artist's studio.
Born in Palermo (Italy) to Ghanaian parents, Stephen Price (b. 1995) moved to the United Kingdom with his family in 2014 and attended the University of Northampton where he obtained a BFA in Painting and Drawing. Drawing inspiration from the notion of temporality, Price’s paintings offer a poetic encounter and marriage between abstraction and figuration in which charcoal black figures appear as the main subjects.
Using a mixed media technique consisting of charcoal, pastels, oil and acrylic on canvas, Price paints intimate portraits of Black subjects in abstract or enchanted natural environments seemingly suspended in time. His visual language pushes beyond pure replication of photographic images and deviates from physical realities by pairing the real with his imagination and memories. By applying the skin with the depth of charcoal and thick expressive brushstrokes of acrylic and oil, he creates a physicality of texture that is both rough and soft.
Price’s first solo show was in 2021 with Gallery At Home in Usk, United Kingdom. His second solo show was with Chili Art Projects (London) in October 2023. ‘I Wish I Could Be The Moonlight’ his upcoming solo exhibition at Bwo will be his debut solo in Africa.
Stephen Price’s work has integrated the collections of notable collectors in the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Malaysia, France, Belgium, Nigeria and Germany.