Stephen Allwood
B. 1959
Roses, 2024, oil on canvas, 1200 x 900 mm $5800
Lilies, Montjaux, 2024, oil on canvas, 900 x 710 mm $6400
A.D. after Zubaren, 2022, 1015 x 1220 mm $8500
Hobart mixer, 2024, oil on canvas, 1200 x 900 mm $8700
Baking 3, 2024, oil on canvas, 400 x 550 mm $4400
Chocolate hearts, 2024, oil on canvas, 550 x 700mm $5400
Landscape with bread, 2024, oil on canvas, 910 x 1520 mm $9800
Artist biography
Stephen Allwood was born in Fiji, in 1959. He grew up in Masterton, before moving to Canterbury to complete his Fine Arts degree at Ilam. In 1980, Stephen took a year off from his studies to paint the Greek Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration in Masterton dome to floor in religious icons. After completing his studies, he wandered the world, before returning to New Zealand, where he now lives and paints outside Martinborough, with his partner Jo Crabb.
Stephen finds inspiration from the world around him, particularly in his own hamlet – the natural and the human-influenced landscape, the animals, the forces such as weather, and time. He works mostly in oils on canvas, and his style has been described as Bacon meets Fragonard – Stephen though, describes his influences as day-to-day, what’s in front of him, looking for the essential reality of his subjects. But his paintings are as much about the joy of painting as about the subject; this dashing, painterly style, with his mastery of light, can often take the works in unexpected directions.
Stephen has exhibited his work regularly throughout New Zealand since the 1990s. His work is held in numerous collections throughout the country, including the BNZ Collection, and Waikato University Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato.
Solo Exhibitions
- The Bakery, 2024
- New Animal Paintings, 2023
- Lifespan, new flower paintings, 2021
- The Woolshed, 2020
- Ephemera, 2018
- Sheep and beef, 2017
- Edible, 2015
- Animal portraits, 2014
- Sheep portraits and other paintings, 2013
- Insecta, 2012
- Domestica, 2011
- Flock, 2009
- Wood landscapes, 2007