Stephen Zaima — painter and artist — monograph FEAR NOT
In his paintings, Stephen Zaima creates invented landscapes of enigmatic images, symbols, and shapes that he has assembled not from any formal language, but from his own imagination and sensibilities. Zaima’s recurring vision usually involves some form of detritus or dystopian imbroglio, common to many artists exploring the unfamiliar. A monograph of selected works from 1984-2021 was published in 2022, with an essay by Saul Ostrow. His studio is in the Hudson Valley region on New York State.
NEW WORK
dEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, 2024
(Ode to Alexis de Tocqueville)
mixed media, 40 in. x 155 in.
“The images in my work frequently lack names that we recognize and even when they do have names, it’s just to keep the trail warm. I don’t want my art to fall into a black hole, but I want to get close to the edge.”
Stephen Zaima
“My paintings often depict a space in which the boundary between the real and the imaginary is blurred, and images and symbols take on new meanings.”
Stephen Zaima
“Our heads are round so our
Francis Picabia
thoughts can change direction.”
“Do something, do something to that, and then do something to that.”
Jasper Johns