Self portrait by Stefan Dunlop, May 2004

New Zealander Stefan Dunlop made his first foray into London's art scene in May 2003 before going on to exhibit in Prague and Australia.

Now based in the East End and with a second London show under his belt, he talks about the genesis of two of his most recent pieces....

"Crowd began its life sourced from a black and white photograph depicting a large gathering from the early sixties, some sort of radical student protest at an Italian university campus.

What I liked was the way it portrayed a large group in a dramatic circumstance, and something seemed to be happening: conflict, argument, and aggression, something significant and perhaps fundamental to our nature and relevant to our times.

I'd been looking for such an image for several months. In fact the idea had been brewing for years, initiated after seeing the late work of Bruno Fonseca, Gericault and Goya.

I wanted to take on some of the big, multi-layered figurative challenges that good painters of the past have tackled. I also wanted to see if I was up to it.

"I wanted to take on a big, multi-layered figurative challenge"...Stefan Dunlop stands in front of his painting 'Crowd' (oil on linen), October 2004

The piece began well enough. But after several weeks it became clear that it couldn't be resolved. I had come a long way with the colour but something was lacking in the composition. If the balance and structure of a piece is wrong, everything else is superfluous.

I decided to cut the canvas down and create a smaller painting, in effect a study. Having failed initially on the large-scale canvas, I started re-arranging certain figures in the painting. One figure in particular was 'mirrored' or 'flipped' to the other side of the canvas and I could see the piece begin to work.

The smaller version of 'Crowd' (163 x 96.5cm, June 2004) shows the distribution of colour, based on techniques used in old master painting

The colour influence came from some of the paintings in the National Gallery. I'd noticed in old master painting the use of robes or togas as a device for the abstract distribution of colour, which then builds a rhythm.

The Titian retrospective of 2003 was also influential - his early stuff has these huge patches of unmodulated, intensely saturated colour. A very solid colour paired with a very solid composition and shape.

All this comes into my painting in a modern way. But interestingly, I'm never sure if these ideas have truly influenced the production of a piece, or emerged after the painting is finished.

What I do know is that 'Crowd' is largely decorative, and I like the interplay of subtle narrative with a purely pictorial device."

"Explorers II is another painting that shares some of these influences. This iconic image of Hillary and Tenzing on Mt Everest was initially chosen for its compositional quality: classically triangular with a strong diagonal element striking through a horizontal line.

Classically triangular with a twist: 'Explorers II' by Stefan Dunlop, oil on canvas, 2004, 208 x 198cm

I've made the central figure one line of intense blue-black and slashing across this is the yellow line of the jacket and backpack. It's a very traditional painting but has a sort of modernity and a contemporary edge. It could even be Pop Art in some ways.

Recently, I've wanted all my painting to be solid and flat. I think 'Explorers ll' has these qualities. Of course there is an entire story and a conceptual side to the painting, linked to the motif of the two mountaineers-cum-explorers.

Could we have imagined then that we'd also be seeing men on the moon and in similar poses? I'm not overly-interested in such things as I'm not - to the best of my knowledge - a conceptual painter!"

See also: Stefan Dunlop's diary recording the countdown to his first London show (May 2003)

Web link: Stefan Dunlop (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites)

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