About Stanley
The man from the South Pacific. I was born in New Zealand in 1962. I studied graphic design in Auckland and then moved to France in 1986. After living in Lyon for 18 months, I moved to London and have been there ever since. During this time, I worked as a graphic designer for major feminine brands such as Clarins, Bourjois and Christian Dior. I now divide my time between London and Krakow. Krakow is a people-sized city. And the architecture is so full of soul-lifting aesthetic pleasures. Graphic art is a big thing with me; the flattening of form and simplification of colour is, I believe, more of an honest, elegant and ‘digestible’ art form that the overwrought workings in paint. Matisse summed up my feeling towards graphics when he spoke about Japanese and Islamic art: “I rely on Oriental art to help me express abstract ideas through the simplification of form and colour.”
For the moment, I have left behind the deadening corporatism that bedevils most contemporary design creativity. While maintaining my design practise, (see www.stanleydesign.co.uk) I am also working on forging my own interpretation of beauty and aesthetic pleasure, through graphic art. To date, I have had three exhibitions in Krakow. As one who is essentially a graphiste in my DNA, and as one who had derived much pleasure from books and prints, that is now where I am focused. To date, I have produced two 30-page catalogues of my work and a limited range of selected prints. Please see my Shop page. Otherwise, please roam around the galleries of my work that I have put up. And, if you have the time, please read my essays on beauty, aesthetics and exhibitions. (See Blog page). I hope you like what you see. A splendid time is guaranteed for all!
“What I want is an art of balance, of purity, an art that won’t disturb or trouble people. I want anyone tired, worn down, driven to the limits of endurance, to find calm and repose in my painting.”
Henri Matisse
“The purpose of art is to wash the dust of daily life from our souls.”