Stephen the Fair by Stephen Nothling

In this surreal self portrait, Stephen Nothling is standing in the pose of a Renaissance ruler. The artist juxtaposes the highly realistic painting of his face, hands and feet, with bright, patterned and shiny collage.

“As my body begins to fail me I decided to build myself a suit of armour from remnants of rose patterned biscuit tin lids and tiny sheet metal screws.”

The soft florals of the armour are secured with studs, which serve to further flatten the surface appearance, and give it a metallic feel.

“I referenced some medieval images of Phillip the Handsome of Spain, enjoying his highly decorated armour with skirt.”

In place of the traditional sword, Stephen Nothling is holding three oversized white roses, which he says “…represent my partner and children who sustain me.” This speaks to the richness of the human condition, and the artists’ place in the centre of his world.

The work is called Stephen the Fair because “…visibly I am (fair). Also during my early art education, work was graded excellent, good, fair or poor. I had my fair share of fairs until once I cracked an excellent for a collage and that started something.”