ARTIST STATEMENT

As an artist, I am deeply inspired by the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelites. I strongly believe in creating art that is a genuinely felt, and thoroughly created. Art should be respectful to the artists that went before me, and the natural world that surrounds myself.

As a digital artist I feel particularly challenged, there is no history of digital artisanship, and we are one step further removed from physical experiences. But this is where the duality and interest lies for me. Lessons of the past still apply to the tools of the future.

In a world where we are continuously overburdened by digital information and stimulation, it feels right to create art that slows down the input and refocuses us on the beauty of slowness and calm.

Background

Stephan Duq is a Dutch artist with over 15 years of experience as an artist. He started his career as a concept-artist for games and movies, which evolved into a small studio that produced art for casual games.

While developing his studio and design carreer he also worked as digital lecturer at the Unversity of the Arts Utrecht (HKU) within the Games & Design faculty, specializing in visual design and visual narrative.

More recently Stephan was a co-founder of the Bloom collective, a group of digital artists making the leap into the art world. And works regularly as botanical artist within the entertainment and motion graphic industry.

In 2020 Stephan started showing his personal work, and his work has been displayed through many art shows and publications worldwide.

Central in my work is the combination of nature, decoration and algorithm. A fascination of mine has always been repetition and pattern throughout nature, in my work I try to combine this fascination with mathematics and digital art techniques. When it all comes together this leads to work that seems artificial and human at its core, but it has the familiar warmth of the natural world around us.

Through my work I work with Calmth. Calm is a leading theme for me, as a neurodivergent artist, I often am overstimulated, or can not organize my headspace in a cohesive direction. Through my work I hope to share the importance of finding calmth for yourself, or the struggle when it is just out of reach. Especially in a world that grows exceedingly louder, I want to create work that shows there are spaces and moments where calmth reigns. Sometimes that is through a lone and contemplative flower on a grey day.

All my work is created in a virtual space, which means that everything is perfect from the start. If you would sculpt, you have to take time to create a perfect ball, painting means you have to make several layers and passes to create a suggestion of realism. But when you work with digital 3D tools, the perfect ball is the starting point. Automatically my work then becomes a puzzle where I need to figure out how to destroy the perfection, rather then approaching it.

EXHIBITIONS

2024 —

  • Bloom Lux - IHAMM Gallery, Paris, France

  • Mapping the new Normals - Superchief Gallery, Paris. France

  • Bloom Lux - NFT Factory, Paris, France

  • Bloom - Stellar, New York, United States

  • Tokyo Solid Kyoto -NOX Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

  • TUUN - Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Nock Nock Art fair - Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • Kaleidoscope - Unknown Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2023 —

  • Beijing Contemporary Art Fair - Neal Digital Gallery, Beijing, China

  • Digital Art New Year 2023 - Neal Digital Gallery China

  • Future C - Neal Digital Gallery, Shenzhen, China

  • Digital Paradise - Neal Digital Gallery, Sanya, China

  • Into the Infinite - OP.ΞNSPACE,Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • NFT Korea Festival - Superchief Gallery, Seoul, South Korea


2022 —

  • TED - Vancouver, Canada

  • From Pattern to Polygon - Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands

  • NFT Liverpool - Liverpool, United Kingdom

  • Contemporary Calgary - Calgary, Canada

  • OP.ΞNSPACE - Amsterdam, Netherlands

  • SHENFT - Haarlem, Netherlands

  • Miami Art week - Miami, United States

  • Rolli Flagship store - Melbourne, Australia

  • Metaverse Summit - Paris, France

PRESS & APPEARANCES

Client Selection

Mercedes / Swiss VFX / Gaia / SAIL GP / World of Tanks

Education& Career

2004 -2009 : Student University of the arts Utrecht - Design for Virtual Theatre and Games

2009 - 2011: Founder Stroke studios

2010 - 2022: Lecturer University of the Arts Utrecht - Games and Interaction

2011 - now: Independent digital artist