A story on every canvas

Words and paintings are hard to match. Stephano Sutherlin is well spoken and easily spits pieces of a lifetime of adventure through the course of a conversation. His syllables, while eloquent, are pale and brittle compared to the vibrant details he lays on canvas so prolifically. 

The lonesome boat, anchored with a chain made of a child’s colored pencil embodies the loner in an image, where words stumble to explain. It’s seen on first glance this may be the type of 15-year-old who would run away with the carnival and forever change the course of his work with the fonts and colors of the Freak Show advertisements. 

Somehow it's also the first offering of an evolution of the same young man as he’s drawn to the Navy to serve. Once piece wraps a humble beginning together and lays the stage to describe the type of person who knows exactly how the Illinois police react when your friends, who happen to be conjoined twins, stumble along as the cops are busting you for having a little grass. 

Familiar faces enclosed individually by the trademark frames and bold colors recognizable and unique as the style of the man himself displayed above the door in his Virginia City gallery speak to another place and time. One where a sketch artist dashes to speed draw the pictures of the President, the witnesses and accusers in a courtroom drama real and made for CNN. 

Upstaged by an airplane crash and unwilling to sketch the evils of the trade center bomber, the work moves to another time and place. This one is just a hop, skip and a jump from what became the Michigan man’s Arkansas home. 

It’s king Diego, the dog of dogs on Bourbon Street with the bold colors of the carnival at his disposal. Upstaged by the lovely Ashley reflected in the rear view mirror driving the car much the same way she does her and her husband’s collection of galleries. The cool cats lounge on the street corner, but Diego’s legacy is forever crowned on canvas along with a traveling cow and other whimsies. 

A bison stretches its overly long legs as time melts into its coarse fur under the watchful gazes of the Salvadore Dalis. A fitting welcome to the American west and introduction to a new audience in the territorial capital. 

Frank keeps a watchful eye on the surrealists studio work from behind Jimi Hendrix’s guitar with its noodle neck and newly installed dental floss strings. Waiting patiently for the convenience of a modern charge to restore his voice and allow him to once again sing the surrealist anthem of Big Sky country. 

In the gallery the blood red hand of justice unserved marks a reminder for the indigenous women whose lives search for value in the modern landscape. Fire storms rage as bees struggle. The environment encroaches on the work of the West and vice versa. 

Fish jump from the black backgrounds aglow, catching the eyes of the river wranglers and marking full immersion in the gold leaf era. They, along with their partners in the gallery, are bold and eager to tell their stories in the homes of those who come to admire. Available at values that are friendly to those who live in the valleys and not exclusively on Southwest Montana’s famous hill. A tip of the hat to the intersection of value and excellence where Stephano displays his creations. 

While words may jump at the opportunity to capture the man or his work, Stephano Sutherlin is only really experienced through the eye as it gazes upon his canvases. You can visit his Wallace Street gallery in Virginia City, across the street from the historic Opera House.