Internationally collected, award winning artist, Roderick E. Stevens II was handed his first set of oils at the age of seven and his love for painting was promptly born. Initially his works followed more abstract expression since well . . . he was only seven. In high school, he began exploring realism, and simultaneously discovered acrylics which seemed to better accommodate his impatient nature. Since then he has worked primarily in acrylics on wood panels and canvas. Early on however, film making grabbed his attention, and cinematography became his career of choice, nudging painting to the status of ‘occasional hobby’ for many years. In 2004, a cataclysm of turmoil sent him back to the palette for some personal focus and his talents re-emerged. Since then he has traveled the country in art shows and galleries sharing his contemporary, photorealistic paintings, and has quickly garnering critical praise and numerous awards. “I must admit that I love looking at more abstract works, but when compelled to place my own brush to canvas I am drawn to photorealism. I am of course particularly intrigued by how light is refracted through glass and liquid, or reflected off of chrome and specular surfaces.  For now, as opposed to sprawling scenes, I like to study small simple subjects, and display them as prominent, larger than life spectacles.

 

I work from photographs, not just because it is a way of studying a frozen image, but because I am a cinematographer as well and am especially fond of light and optics. I enjoy incorporating elements of photography into my art, such as motion blur, depth of field (foreground and/or background out of focus) and other artifacts not natural to human vision; you only see them as a result of the optical process of photography and I take pleasure in capturing them with paint. Most photorealists use photography as a step towards painting, but for me the painting is an extension of my love of photography. Lastly, I sometimes like to add an extra dimension to my pieces by layering related objects or images onto the surface of the painting as if they’ve fallen onto the canvas.” “Lastly, I feel it is important for me to express my gratitude for having been given this gift. I am quite convinced it is a gift of abundance from God, and I feel incredibly obligated to spread it around, so I am always on the lookout for places to donate my works so that they might do others some good in some way.”

 

Roderick and his children live in a home they built with their own hands (with much reluctance and complaining on the part of the children and daughter Melissa’s boyfriend) in South Eastern Arizona. Besides being a lifetime dream of his to design and build a house, he was able to include a loft studio and stop painting in the kitchen, Melissa could now have room for her two puppies, and Roderick jr. could set up his drums in the garage . . . 30’ from the house.