Orangeville painter Steve Volpe plucks inspiration from everyday experiences – a stranger’s gaze, a travel snapshot, a striking architectural feature – then quickly sets about bending it to create a fresh visual narrative. BY ELLIE EBERLEE
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scholarly-looking man leans over a coffee cup, appearing to commune with the tower of apparently well-read books in front of him on the table. The musty odour of the books is nearly palpable. The man’s right hand is held aloft for emphasis while beneath the table his left hand toys with a flaming lighter. On the uppermost book sits a polished red apple. This is the intriguing scene in Steven Volpe’s 2018 oil painting Balzac’s Café, whose title plays on the
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names of both the contemporary Balzac’s chain of coffeehouses and the 19th-century French realist author, Honoré de Balzac. The painting hangs in the tidy living room of the house Volpe has shared with his wife, Wendy, since the couple moved to Orangeville 21 years ago. The composition is meticulous, unfolding in gestural yet orderly brushstrokes in muted shades of brown and blue. For Volpe, though, the work’s real excitement lies in its concept. “It may start with a little phrase
or a part of a photograph,” he says, explaining his broader process as he leans forward to square the edge of the canvas with the frame of his couch. “That’s the catalyst. And then the work begins to bring the scene to life.” Volpe’s scenes are often held together by a dose of tension, a juxtaposition of the expected and the unexpected that may remind some viewers of traditional surrealism, though the artist doesn’t consider himself part of that tradition. “I like scenes
