Artists - STEVE BUNN - Biography

Born in Blackpool in 1971, the particular character of his birthplace, with its holiday attractions, is as present in this young artist's work as his interest in art history.

Educated at Camberwell and then the Royal College of Art, several distinct strands run through Bunn's pieces, developing in parallel. The representational works draw on a wide variety of cultural influences, from the popular to the highly intellectual, commenting upon them.

Old westerns, the fairground and the amusement arcade may all figure, alongside references to works of Modernist or Renaissance masters. The weightiest subject matter, such as the nature of identity - even human mortality - may be treated with a seriousness that is subverted at the last moment by the inclusion of an unexpected material, surface texture or colour.

So the works are as humorous as they are thought-provoking; serious without being solemn. The same lightness of touch is evident in the more abstract pieces, like the roller-coaster series, in which lines of steel leap and swoop in what is not only an aerial calligraphy but also an homage to a certain seaside town.

Handling a wide range of materials with assurance, Steve Bunn is an accomplished and demanding craftsman who has successfully placed large scale sculptures outdoors as well as showing his smaller and more delicate pieces in interior, gallery spaces.

He has shown widely in London at venues, such as the South London Gallery and the Whitechapel Gallery. He accepts public and private commissions, which he works on at his studio in Stockwell. He lives in Battersea and teaches sculpture at Camberwell and the University of Brighton.