09/08/2026
Opening Saturday: Stephen Waddell, Effulgent Doom
Reception Sept 12, from 3 to 6pm
stephen waddell studio //
September 12–October 10, 2026
At first glance, Stephen Waddell’s photographs are documents of quotidian moments. A girl in a pink bathing suit appears to make her way to the beach; a man pauses before getting out of a car. This depiction of subjects in mid-narrative emphasizes a broader context from which the images have been distilled. It imparts a tension that pivots around viewers, either suspending or upholding disbelief in an ongoing, but unknown, narrative. Waddell presents his figures as replete with a purposeful purposelessness. Moreover, for the artist, and for the knowledgeable viewer, these images are saturated with references to art history and photography. By capturing the essence of Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Gustave Caillebotte in subject matter discovered through his rambles, Waddell melds and mutually enriches the histories of painting and photography. Given these aspects of his work, it is not surprising to discover that Waddell began his artistic career as a painter. In 1990, however, a shift occurred to other media, when he began to explore the urban environment with a Polaroid camera in order to learn more about composition for his painting studies. He also used a Super-8 camera, to film people, seeking to understand the human figure in the modern environment, a preoccupation of many artists since the mid-19th century. Photographs such as Man With a Red Sash recall the paintings of 19th-century Realist artists who favoured street types, labourers and the picturesque proletariat. To find perfectly composed scenes en pleine air entails a great deal of looking, and Waddell considers this physical labour of exhaustive searching to be a major component of his photographic practice.
– Andrea Kunard, Associate Curator of Photographs, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Stephen Waddell
Hermes 1, 2024
Silver gelatin print
56 x 44 in
142.2 x 111.8 cm
Edition of 3
