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Stephen Todd

Stephen Todd muses on how we spin narratives, blending personal memory with cultural history. His restless, multi-layered surfaces result from an intuitive process of layering marks using gouache, Indian ink, pastels and graphite, until internal logic locks in. Anchored to place and time, his works feel both archaeological and urgently present.

Education

BA Fine Art, Sheffield Hallam University (1999)

Selected exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions
(2026) "And Quiet Flows the Don", Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
(2025) Inland : Outland, Gallery Salt, Beverley
(2021) Allotments, Kentmere House Gallery, York
(2021) Fact from Fiction (Reprise), Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
(2020) Fact from Fiction, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
(2019) Inner Landscapes, Ropewalk Gallery, Barton upon Humber
(2018) Humber Estuary: Inward Visions, Beverley Museum and Art Gallery, Beverley
(2014) Land as Disquiet, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
(2011) Angel of History, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
(2009) Seascapes, Cooper Gallery, Barnsley
(2009) Restless Nature, The Circle, Sheffield
(2008) Restless Nature, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
(2007) Show of Evidence, Derby City Museum and Art Gallery, Derby
(2004) Presentation of Facts, Bloc Gallery, Sheffield
(2004) Chosen, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
(2001) Roman Rigg, Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham
Group Exhibitions
(2026) Royal Watercolour Society Open, Bankside Gallery, London
(2025) Summer Show, Royal Academy, London
(2025) Royal Watercolour Society Open, Bankside Gallery, London
(2024) Harley Open, Harley Gallery, Welbeck, Notts.
(2023) Mixed Show, Gallery at Salt, Beverley
(2023) ING Discerning Eye, Mall Gallery, London
(2022) Harley Open, Harley Gallery, Welbeck, Nottinghamshire
(2020) Winter Exhibition, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donnington
(2020) Ferens Open, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
(2020) Harley Open 2020, Harley Gallery, Welbeck, Nottinghamshire
(2017) Ways of Seeing, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donnington
(2017) This Burning Love, The Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford
(2016) Top Draw, Ropewalk Gallery, Barton-upon-Humber
(2015) Whitby Work, Art Cafe Gallery, Whitby
(2014) Coastal Exhibition, Harrison Lord Gallery, Brighouse
(2013) Light Touch, Bloc Studios, Sheffield Fringe, Sheffield
(2011) Photosensitive, One Church Street Gallery, Great Missenden
(2009) Survey, Gallery Top, Rowsley
(2006) Revelations, Chester Centre, London

Artist statement

The main methods of my practice are painting, drawing, print-making and photographic means. I make work that has a strong sense of marks and lines that are a mixture of the instinctive, deliberate and accidental, often incorporating words or lines of texts. I try to maintain a direct use of colour and to reference the materials being used. Drawing is an essential process for me, charcoal an important medium and life drawing a basic discipline. I started life drawing in 1980 with John Epstein in London and continue to explore the instinctive approach he provoked. It is important for me to achieve a drawing full of movement, even from a static figure.

I also undertake research that considers the historic significance of places and events. This investigates how the past is recorded and represented to determine how we understand and internalise it. How are facts constructed? I seek to bring this more thoughtful and conceptual approach into the range of work I undertake.

In conclusion, my work is figurative in its inspiration and I seek to make pieces that are visually strong, aesthetic in quality and that continue to affect the viewer.