Supersampler is an exhibition featuring a decade’s worth of work by London-based painter, Mark Stebbins. Inspired by the history of image making, digital media and textiles, Stebbins’ paintings explore the potential of the grid form through realism and abstraction alike.

Often containing thousands of tiny squares hand-painted with hundreds of different tones and hues, Stebbins’ paintings translate source imagery to pose what he calls “visual questions.” By building up and breaking down these images, the artist plays with colour, detail, texture, and contrast to impact what the viewer sees. Here, paint strokes act as stitches and pixels, often distorted.

Stebbins’ works break free from traditional painting conventions to draw on the rich histories of digital technology, art and creative practice. With a mysterious, ghostly quality, his paintings capture the fragmented nature of memory and the passage of time. A new series employs symbols from historic embroideries found in Museum London’s artifact collection, while other pieces feature vibrant, kaleidoscopic effects that nod to key moments in art history—like 19th-century pointillism and the hard-edge abstraction of the 1950s and 60s. Throughout these diverse influences, Stebbins’ work invites us to reflect on themes of originality, labour, and the evolving role of painting in our increasingly virtual world.

A book is currently being produced and will be available in spring 2025.

Image: Mark Stebbins, Ruin (detail), 2018, acrylic on wood panel, Collection of the Artist

Lien vers l'exposition : https://museumlondon.ca/exhibitions/mark-stebbins-supersampler 

Address : 421 Ridout Street North London, Ontario Canada N6A 5H4