Carnival

Stephen Wessells has always known what it feels like to lose himself in the making of something — first in the editing room, cutting documentary footage frame by frame, and now in a Las Vegas studio where a stick loaded with crimson paint swings freely over a white canvas. 'Carnival' was born out of that same surrender. The goal was simple and joyful: make something bright, make something cheerful, make something that feels like the lights just came on. Working in the tradition of Jackson Pollock — the artist whose shadow has always loomed large over Stephen's imagination — he moved around the canvas like a conductor, dripping arcs of red, scattering dots of deep blue, laying down veins of orange and gold, letting pale sky-blue wash in between like the spaces between fireworks. There was no plan beyond the feeling. The canvas became a record of movement, mood, and pure delight. The result is a painting that carries the spirit of its making intact. Stand before 'Carnival' and you feel the momentum of the arm, the spin of color through air, the moment of landing. You also feel something simpler and harder to name — the pleasure of being alive on a day when everything is in motion and the world looks like a celebration. That is exactly what Stephen set out to give, and exactly what this painting delivers.