September 5, 2008 
SVA's Steven Tabbutt
Published: March 29, 2006
 
Courtesy of the artist
Steven Tabbutt, “The White Rabbit” (2006)
Steven Tabbutt
Artist's Contact: When I listen to "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears, automatically I am reminded of playing with Transformers in the back seat of my mother's Honda. Similarly, when I feel autumn approaching, I have happy memories of walking through the sunlight peeking through the oak trees that surrounded the military base I lived on as a young boy. In my adult life, whether it's through my daily activities or my creative expressions, I strive to recapture that sense of security and warmth of those childhood memories. I know I've idealized those memories in an effort to conceal my true feelings. If I really think about my childhood experience, I remember the terrible sense of vulnerability I often felt and the strong sense of disappointment that washed over me when I faced reality. In my recent body of work I use archetypes and famous characters from children's books and mythology, both of which were an early spark to my fantasy ideal of the world. I aim to depict these characters with a sense of adult reality by revealing the gray areas we often miss as children in a world in which everything is black and white. Context should go hand in hand with style and technique. I strive for the harmony of drawing and painting by juxtaposing flat, two-dimensional areas of drawing with deep translucent passages of paint. I want my works to maintain their integrity as two-dimensional pieces while simultaneously providing the illusion of deep space. I use a very hot palette because the hues serve a dual, conflicting purpose of inviting the viewer in through warmth and comfort while conveying a sense of urgency and decay through their vivid, shocking presence. For example, in The Big Fab Wolf, I purposely made the sky very hot in an attempt to flatten the space and to give it the feel of an impending apocalypse. In The White Rabbit, the sweet frosted cake rots in the heat as flies devour it. Artist’s Biography: Steven Tabbutt was born in Maine, but spent his childhood in the South living on various military bases. He graduated summa cum laude from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA degree in illustration and painting in 2002. He received his MFA in Illustration as a Visual Essay from the School of Visual Arts in 2006. He spent two years working as an intern for the Rotunda gallery and the Visual Arts Gallery. Steven’s work has been selected for inclusion in Playboy, 3 X 3, Print, Applied Arts, CMYK, Applied Arts 2001 Illustration Annual, American Illustration 25, Word, Alt-Pick 2004, Spectrum 13 and the Society of Illustrators West Illustration Annual 2002 and 2003, and the New York Society of Illustrations Annual 2001 Scholarship competition. He has received awards and recognition from the SCAD Foundation Show; the SCAD Portfolio and Special Topics Scholarship competitions; the SVA Graduate Illustration Merit Award 2005 and 2006; the Hershey Gold Leadership Award; five medals in 3 X 3's Second Annual Student Competition, including the gold and bronze; and awards of excellence from Coastal Carolina University and Savannah College of Art and Design. Steven has illustrated for Pinocchio, Books on Screen and Salvador and the Artist.
About SVA’s Program: The School of Visual Arts in New York City is an established leader and innovator in the education of artists. From its inception in 1947, the faculty has been comprised of professionals working in the arts and art-related fields. SVA provides an environment that nurtures creativity, inventiveness and experimentation, enabling students to develop a strong sense of identity and a clear direction of purpose. |
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