Stephan Jay Rayon

1 MAR - 8 MAY 2008

In May 2008 Webb's was host to Stephan Jay Rayon's Imaginary Film Stills, originally on show at the Fuse Gallery, NYC, held in conjunction with Niagara's Destroy All Monsters show. European-born Stephan Jay Rayon grew up in Canada and moved to New York City some 20 years ago. A self-taught artist and graphic designer who fuses European and North American heritage to form a visual language that transcends cultural labelling, he is perhaps best known internationally for his work for Japanese fashion label Hysteric Glamour. more ...

Imogen Kerr
PH + 64 9 524 6804

Stephan Jay Rayon
Forest Woman
enamel on canvas
1140mm x 1490mm

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Stephan Jay Rayon
Wolf Woman 2
enamel on canvas
1490mm x 1140mm

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Installation View Prior to the Opening of Imaginary Film Stills

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Imaginary Film Stills Opening Begins

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In Imaginary Film Stills, Jay Rayon presents a realm of drama and tension. Foreground and background are fused with careful attention to the graphic quality of the negative and positive space. This minimal crisp space allows the viewer to fill in the gaps and insert their own stories of dreams and desires. Viewers are drawn to the sensuality, theatrics and simplicity of the sleek paintings of Jay Rayon. As a child, Jay Rayon found his passion in art through cinema. The carefully staged scenes on the big screen generated more interest for him than could a painting or a drawing. Jay Rayon is a designer for Hysteric Glamour. One can find the Pop aesthetics of cinema and fashion in his work as well as absurdism and unrealism.