Stephen appleby-barr

London-based Canadian painter Stephen Appleby-Barr ( @gstab ) presents A Hydra Study - the result of his recent ArtCinema residency. Known for his dark, intimate Baroque-style, particularly referencing Rembrandt, Velasquez & Gentileschi, he has turned his gaze to Hydra’s landscapes and its beloved cats, his new muse. A tender and imaginative portrayal, A Hydra Study is dedicated to supporting the island’s much-needed veterinary clinic. Video @kyrandanielmusic

London-based Canadian painter Stephen Appleby-Barr ( @gstab ) presents A Hydra Study - the result of his recent ArtCinema residency. Known for his dark, intimate Baroque-style, particularly referencing Rembrandt, Velasquez & Gentileschi, he has turned his gaze to Hydra’s landscapes and its beloved cats, his new muse. A tender and imaginative portrayal, A Hydra Study is dedicated to supporting the island’s much-needed veterinary clinic.

Step inside Stephen Appleby-Barr’s east London studio in our latest online Viewing Room. Discover how the artist’s ideas take form in his notebooks, how he invented a new tool for painting, and how his life and art are very much inseparable. And don’t miss the exhibition ‘Mesocosmos’, in our London gallery, closing this Friday 8 August. Link to the Viewing Room in our bio. @gstab #RobilantVoena #ApplebyBarr #Mesocosmos #InTheStudio #ArtistStudio #BTS #LastChance #ClosingSoon

Saturday night life class with @gstab

Where i live im surrounded by creativity. This is by my neighbour @gstab Stephen - I love his stuff. So I buy it off him and that makes both of us feel better. Oooooh

Immerse yourself in the strange and fantastical world of Stephen Appleby-Barr, in his exhibition of paintings – Mesocosmos – now in its final weeks in London. Appleby-Barr’s paintings transport us into a dreamlike realm, coming face-to-face with curious characters, ambiguous landscapes, and ruined buildings bursting with magnificent floral blooms, all infused with a profound sense of wonder and possibility. In these works, the artist seems to be conjuring a folklore for the present day – don’t be surprised if these visions stay with you long after leaving the exhibition. @gstab Stephen Appleby-Barr. Mesocosmos Until 8 August 38 Dover Street, London W1S 4NL #RobilantVoena #ApplebyBarr #Mesocosmos #Fantasy #Dreams #ContemporaryPainting #LondonArt

If you’ve visited our London exhibition, you will have encountered these intriguing characters from Stephen Appleby-Barr’s Mesocosmos. Each painting depicts a different figure from the artist’s imagined world, with their own identity and story to tell. Which one is your favourite? Let us know! If you haven’t visited the show yet – don’t worry! Why not pop into the exhibition during London Gallery Weekend, with extended hours: Friday 6 June: 10am – 8pm Saturday 7 June: 11am – 5pm Sunday 8 June: 11am – 5pm @gstab Images: 1) Installation view of Mesocosmos at Robilant+Voena, London. 2) Installation view, clockwise from top left: ‘Moses’, ‘Bushes’, ‘Smoker’ and ‘Senator’. 3) ‘Remmy’, 2025. 4) One part of triptych ‘Les Philosophes’, 2025. Photos by Matthew Hollow. #RobilantVoena #Mesocosmos #LondonGalleryWeekend #Portraits #FantasyWorld #HeadStudies

This motion portrait film of my good friend Stephen was made for his beautiful show Mesocosmos @robilantvoenagallery . For this piece I returned to a layering technique I first explored many years ago creating a music video for Mount Kimbie —this approach felt like the perfect way to reflect the layered nature of Stephen’s process, and the way life, community, and art are inseparably woven through it. After living so close to Stephen for years , making this piece didn’t feel like stepping into something new—it felt like a continuation of a conversation and a gentle drift back into the orbit of his Mesocosmos ✨💛✨

Stephen Appleby-Barr. Mesocosmos Preview: 22 May, 6 – 8.30pm Exhibition dates: 23 May – 4 July 38 Dover Street, London W1S 4NL “The Mesocosmos… is the middle ground, it’s where those approaches overlap” – Stephen Appleby-Barr For the artist, the Mesocosmos is an intersection of life and art, where experiences play out in a self-contained world that poses as many questions as it answers. Appleby-Barr’s interlacing practice of drawing, painting and sculpture has shaped his Mesocosmos, with 20 paintings shown in public for the first time in this exhibition. @gstab Film by Anthony Dickenson @tonedefinitely (full version on our website). #RobilantVoena #Mesocosmos #ArtistStudio #NewExhibition #ContemporaryPainting

The fundamental tenets of Stephen Appleby-Barr’s practice are painting, sculpture and drawing. These are the means through which the artist interprets and makes sense of the world. The 20 paintings in the exhibition Mesocosmos are innately and organically connected to Appleby-Barr’s other works – his drawings and his sculptures. The same characters and objects appear across all three mediums, living out their existence in his notebooks filled with sketches and writings, in plaster and modelling clay, and in oil paint. The artist explains how the three disciplines intertwine and enrich one another: “I want to find out how drawing, painting and sculpture can inform each other and overlap and create approaches that expose the work to more information than any one of those things carries on their own.” Discover more in our new photo essay – In the Studio with Stephen Appleby-Barr – which you can find in the link in our bio. @gstab #RobilantVoena #Mesocosmos #InTheStudio #BehindTheScenes #artistsstudio #ContemporaryPainting #LondonArtScene #TorontoArt

Opening next week in London: Stephen Appleby-Barr. Mesocosmos Preview: 22 May, 6 – 8.30pm Exhibition dates: 23 May – 4 July Artist-in-conversation event: 12 June, 7 – 8pm Stephen Appleby-Barr’s paintings weave together the fantastical and the everyday, conjuring a dreamlike world which verges on the uncanny. Combining a modern sensibility with his impressive technical prowess, Appleby-Barr draws inspiration from a range of historical and contemporary sources – from Old Master paintings to video games and popular literature – to create seemingly timeless yet playful visions that evoke the ambiguity of the known world. In this exhibition, the artist invites us into his Mesocosmos, an imagined realm featuring curious characters and wondrous places, with paintings that tread a fine line between visual exactitude and mystery. Find more information via the link in our bio, or send us a message to ask about available works. @gstab Image: Stephen Appleby-Barr, Fool, 2025, oil on canvas, 76 x 66 cm (29 7/8 x 26 in.) Photo by @fredborghesi #RobilantVoena #StephenApplebyBarr #Mesocosmos #FantasyPainting #ContemporaryPainting #LondonArt #ExhibitionOpening