Gerhard Richter Mirror, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2025
Santa Fe, 2025
40th Annual All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Arts Center, Greenwood Village, Colorado, 2024
04-28-26 Cyclical Fluctuation, oil on panel
Spark Gallery Patterns of Chaos in Nature – The Medical Arts, a 2-person show together with Judy Anderson-Kyoko Ono collaboration November 2021
I first saw Steve Austin's work last year and have followed his progress since then. Not only are his paintings gorgeous, the ideas they express resonate with me...The beauty and resilience of nature in his work grounds me with a soothing balm.
Judy Anderson, Denver, CO
Thank you, Stephen, for the wonderful artwork you have always produced and the serenity and happiness I feel when enjoying them.
Patricia Garrett, Tampa, FL
Spark Gallery Patterns of Chaos in Nature – The Medical Arts, a 2-person show together with Judy Anderson-Kyoko Ono collaboration November 2021
I bought a mountain and cloud picture (December Sky) that was beautiful for my wife from him. She loves it. It's hanging in our living room. It felt original but also accessible, and the colors were gorgeous.
Manan Shah MD, Denver, CO
Gallery Representation History:
Opus One, Atlanta Georgia
Lagerquist Gallery, Atlanta Georgia
Gallerie des Arte, Sarasota Florida
Valkarie Gallery, Denver Colorado
Spark Gallery, Denver Colorado
D’art Gallery, Denver Colorado
Crestone, Colorado
I consider all objects of the natural world with an equal level of scrutiny and importance. When I look at a landscape, I do not see an inert mass. Rather, I sense great energies at work, dynamic movement more akin to an ocean, or a living organism in a constant state of change. This energy permeates the Sangre de Cristos. During the indigo night sky it illuminates galaxies on a large scale and the tail of a tiny firefly on a smaller one. The source of that light is of the same origin, its release sublime. Depicting this energy and the physical form it manifests is my singular goal as a painter.
Painting the landscape offers direct interaction to the physical forces of nature, between land and atmosphere, mass and energy. While there is beauty in the visual, my focus is on the emotive experience, be it the drama and violence of the weather, or the stillness of land and sea in juxtaposition to the restlessness of atmosphere. My role as a painter is to access the subjective essence of a scene and express it in a manner that allows the viewer to become a participant in what I consider pure creation. I consider all objects of the natural world with an equal level of scrutiny and importance.
Living in the West, I am constantly exposed to the pristine beauty of Nature in its most primitive splendor. Unfortunately, I am also witnessing in real time adverse changes to these pristine mountains due to a warming planet: a diminishing snowpack and its resulting danger in the form of deforestation, fire and drought and the dying away of our alpine forest. At times I feel the need to express my exasperation with climate change denial with surreal, exaggerated settings that dispel their myths and inaccurate arguments with cynical humor.
On a technical note: I work at a large-to-medium scale, which compliments the visual impact of my paintings and allows them to be easily perceived from a distance, drawing the viewer closer to the painting for a more intimate connection, like a portal beckoning the viewer to enter. I rely on a strong drawing as a framework upon which my painting is structured. Should I deem a painting’s initial gestural drawing weak in its initial stage I will abandon it. No amount of technique compensates for a bad composition; ironically, it only works to highlight the very weakness it seeks to mitigate.
Steve's painting style is unique and creative. I have one of his landscape works, the color in his works has a way of capturing your eye and holding your attention.
Joy Lucisano, Dillon, CO
I have been an adoring fan of Steve’s work for many years, and have several pieces of his work in my home. His use of color and geometric designs are particularly outstanding!
Deanna Raso, Denver, CO
Exhibitions and Publications:
Littleton Museum 2015
Littleton Museum one-man show 2016
Lone Tree Art Expo 2017
Brighton Armory in 2017
Valkarie Gallery one-man show: The Atmosphere, 2018
Valkarie Gallery one-man show: Non-linear Realities, 2019
Architecture of Form, 2021
Spark Gallery Patterns of Chaos in Nature – The Medical Arts at Spark November 2021
D’art Gallery Third Annual Group Show 2022.
Littleton Museum 2023
2023 Friday Health Plans Benefits Plan cover illustration
39th Annual All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Arts & Humanities Center, Greenwood Village, Colorado, 2023
40th Annual All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Arts & Humanities Center, Greenwood Village, Colorado, 2024
Juried into the Santa Fe Gallery Association's 2025 Artist Catalog
41st Annual All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Arts & Humanities Center, Greenwood Village, Colorado, 2025
Juried into the Santa Fe Gallery Association's 2026 Artist Catalog
Steve lives in central Colorado amongst the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, surrounded by some of the most dramatic and pristine scenery the Rocky Mountains of south-central Colorado have to offer. In the stillness of the air and far from any populated areas he works in virtual immersion within the very scenery that plays out in his landscapes.