Stephen Chambers: Recent Paintings

Lyndsey Ingram presents Stephen Chambers: Recent Paintings, the artist’s inaugural exhibition at the gallery. The presentation will focus primarily on two series of oil paintings: the Berlin Flowers and the Obsidian Mirrors.

Stephen Chambers RA divides his time between London and Berlin, attributing his time in Germany to the pursuit of a life less ordinary. The Berlin Flowers began in 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, while Chambers was living in Berlin. On the first Saturday of each month, he purchased a bunch of seasonal flowers from the weekend market and placed them in different vases, often belonging to the artist’s friends; Edwina’s Vase, Yorck’s Vase Red & Rika’s Japanese Vase, forming the focus of the composition. During the lockdown period, florists were deemed an essential service and were allowed to stay open. These paintings became a quiet ritual for Chambers, a visual calendar of the year the world stood still; marking time through blossom and seasonal shift—an understated yet poignant measure of months passed during the worldwide lockdown.