Stephen Lack

28 S TEP H E N L A C K f e a t u r e By Crystal Chan M ontreal. The end of the summer. 1946. End of the war. ” Stephen Lack here describes the conditions of his own birth. “The war was over and there was room for me. ” Indeed, born a... More

28 S TEP H E N L A C K f e a t u r e By Crystal Chan M ontreal. The end of the summer. 1946. End of the war. ” Stephen Lack here describes the conditions of his own birth. “The war was over and there was room for me. ” Indeed, born a decade earlier or later and Lack wouldn’t be Lack: a painter/former actor/ rogue artist whose work focuses precisely on the bridge between the violence of modernity and the American dream which it gave birth to. “Stephen Lack is David Hockney viewed through a soft filter,” a guest muses at the Montreal opening of Lack’s latest show, Galerie Pangée’s Drive-By. Take a look at Lack’s “Pool at Dawn” and it is pretty clear where the comparison comes from. Like Hockney, Lack is a neo-expressionist who depicts urban “American Dream” scenes. The two also share a penchant for vibrant colours. With their candy-coloured palette and often light and visible strokes, Lack’s paintings can often incorrectly come off as simple o Less