Located in Paris, Paul Stewart Gallery boasts a stable of twenty-four contemporary artists hailing from not only France, but also the UK, Nigeria, Romania, Venezuela and beyond. The gallery presents drawings, paintings, sculptures and photographs, so collectors of all kinds will be able to find the perfect piece to add to their home. Here is a selection of six of our favourite pieces from Paul Stewart Gallery's current offerings.
The French artist Julie Peiffer has always been a photographer. She received her grasp of structure and framing from her mother, and her sense of movement and overflow from her father. She practises everything from candid street photography to carefully staged scenes, such as Holding on to Faded Stories. The large work shows a woman’s feet surrounded by swirling book pages, set against a blue background that gives it a fantastic and ethereal appearance.
Born in Belgium in 1974, Cécile Baldewyns is a self-taught photographer who uses the medium to tell deeply personal stories. Many of her works are self-portraits, which show her desires, sorrows and secrets. Although her photographs have an air of spontaneity, they are often carefully researched and staged before shooting. Disorder frames the subject within a decaying room, stacked with boxes and strewn with papers. Her slightly blurred figure is captivating, and her dress and strappy shoes contrast dramatically with the derelict interior.
Andrew Weir was born in Scotland and studied in the Netherlands before moving to Japan, where he lived for nearly a decade. His paintings explore the emotional experience of moving between cultures, as well as the various meanings of symbols and how they change over time. Tokyo As Might Have Been is a mixed-media work, with overlapping details that create a graffiti-like pastiche. There are several small photographs and drawings collaged into the work, including a sideways image of a traditional geisha in the lower left-hand corner.
Although he spent many years working in architecture and construction, Philip Hearsey now devotes all his time to making sculpture. He specialises in bronze sand casting, a process that results in tactile and visually intriguing objects. Summer Solstice is a unique and dramatically curved vessel, rendered conventionally useless by the large split on either side. The ragged edges of the cuts contrast with the smooth rim, and emphasise the colours and form of the raw sculpture.
The Canadian artist Valérie Butters is fascinated by the subconscious and influenced by Surrealism and Expressionism. These interests result in a fresh and captivating take on a traditional subject – still lifes of flowers. Each piece is a joyful explosion of colour and emotion, guided by her quest for total freedom of expression. Ooh La La shows a vase of large red flowers, and the loose, flowing brushstrokes lend the painting a dynamic sense of movement and life.
Robert Ieuan de Haan, also known as Rohan, is half Dutch and half Welsh and was born in Belgium in 1996. Although he experiments with many types of media he is primarily a painter, and his work frequently involves tattooed vases, obscene flowers and post-modern angelic nudes. At first glance, The Devil’s in the Details seems like a straightforward still-life, but, as the title implies, the longer you look the more you see. The winged woman near the bottom has a pair of horns, and the chain of flowers along the top reveals itself to be a row of tightly furled bats, hanging down from the ceiling.