ABOUT ME
Biography
Stanley was born in Lancashire and relocated to Devon in the mid 1980s to study Fine Art at Exeter College of Art & Design, then on to Newcastle for an MA, with two international residencies in between. After a brief 22 years in London he finally settled in Bedfordshire.
Drawing became the backbone to all Stanley’s work following traditional teachings in the life room at Art School. What he then procured from sculpture and painting he applied to his drawing and multi-media works; form, texture, layering.
Following the loss of his son in 2020 Stanley’s work focuses on a visual search for meaning; exploring the humanistic compulsion to believe in ‘other’ (metaphysical and ethereal) as a concept of transformation. His new body of work has gained two solo exhibitions, an ever growing number of UK group exhibitions and had several works featured in four consecutive exhibitions in Italy, touring between Milan and Turin, completing the tour at Galleria d’Arte La Conchiglia, Torino.
In 2023 Stanley was awarded 1st Prize for ‘Best In Medium‘ from Camelback Gallery, USA and awarded a Global Talent Special Prize from Global Talent Art Prize 4th edition.
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Studied Fine Art @
The University Of Northumbria at Newcastle Upon Tyne: MA Fine Art – 1995
Exeter College Of Art & Design: BA (Hons) Fine Art – 1987
Blackpool and Fylde College of F & HE: Fine Art Foundation – 1984
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Associations
Member Artist of ArtCan – artcan.org.uk
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Residencies
Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California
Rotterdam Academie van Beeldende Kunsten
Artist’s statement
2024
My works resonate with a profound metaphysical energy, inviting viewers to contemplate the transcendent aspects of existence by infusing a spiritual dimension into an exploration of death as transformation. I employ symbolism that echoes spiritual motifs in an attempt to create a visual tapestry that speaks to the interconnectedness of the corporeal and the ethereal, making reference to music, faith, light, and the fundamental archetypes of the soul. I frequently eschew colour in order to focus on the complex relationships between light and darkness, both physically and symbolically, and how it can allow us to peer from our place within the everyday world to a world that might lie beyond it, beneath it, or even within it.
Through the lens of spirituality, my art becomes a conduit for reflection on the timeless cycles of life, death, and rebirth, prompting viewers to delve into the deeper, mystical layers of their own consciousness.
The loss of my son, Louis, in 2020, had a profound impact on my life and art. As I continue to grapple with my own traumatic experience I investigate how, often in great despair, we may reach out into the darkness in an attempt to seek and seize the fading echoes of our loss. And as I dismantle the boundaries between life and death, my work resides somewhere in the space between.
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