Stephen Westfall was born in 1953, in New York. He is a painter, a printer, a teacher, and an art critic. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a Bachelors of Art, and a Masters of Fine Art. He began his career with painting. He was very interested in music and mosaics, both of which still inspires his art. He has named many pieces after musicians. He is particularly interested in jazz. Music is much more of an influence on Westfall’s pieces than other artists.
He started making prints in 2003, but the majority of his most popular prints were made in 2004. They are very similar to his paintings in that they are influenced by music and mosaics. His art is very geometrical. He plans out each of his pieces meticulously, carefully crafting both the positive and negative spaces, the colors, and the design. He etches on Plexiglass, and uses his plates to make stencils of his etchings, which he uses in his monoprints to make the edges very clean.
Westfall’s prints are very geometrical and yet abstract at the same time. They are meticulously planned out, but not all the lines are perfect and line up with each other quite right. This is of course on purpose, and his influence from free flowing music shows in those prints. The geometric part of his art comes from his love of mosaics and their carefully carved, even, and square pieces.
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| Jib 2004 |
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| Canaan 2004 |
This is evident in these pieces. The lines are all straight and the contrast of the colors is evident, but the patterns don’t all line up perfectly and the lines aren’t all exactly horizontal or vertical. They are both very geometrical and abstract at the same time.
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| Untitled 2004 |
Many of Westfall’s prints have color contrast like this one, but some of them also have parts where the background blends with the foreground. The difference between the darkly colored windows and the white windows attracts the eye.
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| Nine of Wand 2004 |
Besides color contrast, Westfall often uses positive and negative space in his prints. In this one, he colors the background and leaves the windows white, which gives it a 3D look, even though he is simply using squares and color contrast.
He enjoys working with windows. I think he likes their calculated outline but abstract nature. Here are two more.
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| Untitled 2003 |
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| Prospect 2004 |
Westfall is very logical in his approach. All his scratches in his plates are carefully calculated and measured. He often etches in things with shapes. You’ve already seen many of his window works, but he has also made a collection influenced by race flags.
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| Rally 2004 |
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| Miracle Mile 2003 |
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