Stephanie Vandem’s work focuses on the relationship between the individual and their social context.
In her portraits or more thematic projects, Stephanie approaches it as a short story that begins and ends in itself. Her ultimate aim is to create images that touch the viewer at an emotional, intellectual and aesthetic level.
Stephanie has worked in New York, London, France and the Cayman Islands before settling in the north-east of Scotland. Her paintings can be found in several international private collections and most recently were pre-selected to the Royal Glasgow Institute and Columbia Threadneedle Prize in London. Stephanie has painted the formal portrait of the Bishop of Aberdeen and the daughters of Call the Midwife and Downton Abbey TV director, Minkie Spiro. She also tutors, runs community art projects and gives talks to other artists’ societies.
Stephanie’s exhibition, Lifting, is a response to the Highland Games, in particular the heavyweight events with their strong sense of struggle, personal endurance, showmanship and cultural identity. It took her down the road of re-imagining each image against apre-Victorian setting.
The preview of Lifting is today, Friday 13, at Newave Gallery on Castlegate in Aberdeen, from 6-8pm. The exhibition continues Tuesday-Saturday, from 10.30am-5.30pm until February 7.