artists
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TITIRANGI, AUCKLAND · CONTEMPORARY ABSTRACT ARTIST
Stephanie Parkes
Stephanie Parkes is a self-taught artist whose intuitive paintings explore colour, texture, layering and the balance between structure and spontaneity. Working without a fixed outcome, she allows lines, shapes, drips and repeated marks to build until each painting finds its own direction.
about
Based in Titirangi, Auckland, Stephanie Parkes came to painting intuitively. Over time, it has become both a creative practice and an important way of processing the world around her.
Her relationship with painting changed profoundly after the death of her father. During a period of grief, putting colour and marks onto canvas gave Stephanie a way to express what could not always be put into words. Painting became a place to slow down, experiment and reconnect with herself.
Her early work was colourful and highly patterned, moving between stylised landscapes, figures and abstract compositions. Repetition, geometric forms, bold colour and the rhythm of small marks became recurring elements.
As Stephanie’s practice developed, recognisable imagery gradually began to fall away. Landscapes became less literal, figures disappeared and the patterns and marks themselves became the subject.
Stephanie often begins a work without knowing where it will lead. Shapes, lines, drips and layers respond to one another, creating a balance between deliberate structure and unexpected movement.
She does not see her changing style as something that needs to be resolved. Experimentation is an essential part of her practice, with each body of work reflecting where she is creatively while carrying traces of what came before.
Stephanie was a finalist in the Upstairs Gallery Emerging Artist Awards in both 2023 and 2026.
At the heart of her work is a love of colour, making and the freedom found in not always knowing where a painting will take her.
Because sometimes the most meaningful direction is the one discovered along the way.
Stephanie Parkes
Layers of colour and repeated shapes create a lively rhythm, with something new to notice in every passage.
In Mixed Signals, blue, pink, olive green and warm orange rectangles gather across a softly coloured ground. Some are filled, others outlined, while vertical drips and fine black marks interrupt their loose arrangement.
The painting reflects Stephanie Parkes’ interest in the tension between structure and spontaneity. Acrylic and oil pastel build a textured surface where earlier colours and marks remain visible, adding depth to the repeated forms.
This piece would bring colour and character to an entryway, study or living room, working equally well on its own or within a gallery wall.
Rhythmic · Layered · Playful
Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas 40 × 50 cm Framed size Approximately 42 × 52 cm 2026
FRAMED