Stephen Bezas: All the Bells and Whistles

NEW YORK, NY - Upsilon Gallery is pleased to announce, "All the Bells and Whistles," the first major solo exhibition and official New York City debut of multi-faceted American artist, Stephen Bezas. The show will feature new paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by the artist. Our opening reception unveiling the newest works will be held on Thursday, October 19th between 6pm - 8pm.

Who has not heard of the idiom "All the Bells and Whistles" dating back to the early 19th Century? We at Upsilon Gallery have pulled out all the stops with this captivatingly human artist exhibition with all the bells and whistles, or shall we say, jellybeans, candy kisses, lollipops, baseballs, and everyday things that explore and engage human activities we enjoy daily in myriad styles, executed by varied methods of creating.

Stephen Bezas' varied series can emanate from the deconstruction of original photographs using dots and grids to neo-pointillist vertical and horizontal stacks of dots ensconced within a grid coupled with alternating dot sizes. His grid work allows him to draw what is seen by sectioning the subject into smaller or larger units which correspond to similar units on the artwork. Many Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo to one of the masters of modern architecture, Le Corbusier used a grid as a means to achieve an accurate drawing - which was and is also the goal of learning to draw Sight-Size along with diagramming processes. Our show features exquisite, highly detailed objects on canvas and paper prints that demonstrate the uncanny brilliance of each individual piece of art. As painstaking as it is, all of Bezas’ works are truly an emotional modern day human algorithm from his mind’s eye to his gifted hands.

From a historic perspective one can look back to Pronk Still Life paintings that came out of Antwerp and Amsterdam dating back to the Dutch Golden Age during the 17th Century. Consider this quote from 20th/21st Century poet, Mark Doty discussing still life: "It is an art that points to the human by leaving the human out; nowhere visible, we're everywhere." From an architectural background Bezas understands all too well those objects that are part of human life and bring luster, imagination to the viewer who immediately, by a sense of recognition, falls in love not only with objects depicted but also by the high quality of talent in each and every work.

In the words of the artist, My work in "The Word" series is defined by 25 points of reference representing each letter of the alphabet on a canvas, five across and five down with y & z combined in the lower right-hand corner. The word or words are covertly spelled out by either a color coordinated shape, the angle of a shape, or in some instances colored squares or circles. The composition of each piece is to a degree affected by the word or words.

All the work in this series are personal and flow from either something nostalgic bringing me back to some happy childhood memories, or strong emotions that I felt at the time of creating the work.

All the Bells and Whistles draws widely from local sources, including private collectors, galleries, and the artist himself.

On the occasion of Stephen Bezas: All the Bells and Whistles, a full color exhibition catalogue will be published in collaboration with the artist. For further information, please contact: info@upsilongallery.com.

Upsilon Gallery is located at 23 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10065. Exhibition hours are Tuesday to Friday 10:00 AM-6:00 PM, Saturday 10AM-5PM & by appointment. Please contact the gallery at (646) 476-4190 or email at info@upsilongallery.com for further details.

For additional information and media inquiries, please contact:

Carter Williams
tel +1 (646) 476-4190
email press@upsilongallery.com