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Arbutus Corridor (2009) Arbutus Corridor Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2009 Type: Photography Material: Inkjet print mounted with Diasec Measures: 74,5 x 91,5 cm Acces / purchase date: 2011 Inventory number: 1204 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell -
Stain (2012) Stain Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2012 Type: Photography Material: Silver gelatin print on multigrade fibre matt paper Measures: 159 x 129,5 cm Acces / purchase date: 2012 Inventory number: 1214 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell -
Coal Carrier (2004) Coal Carrier Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2004 Type: Photography Material: Chromogenic print on paper Measures: 116,2 x 114,3 cm Acces / purchase date: 2006 Inventory number: 1007 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell -
Woman with Monochrome (2005) Woman with Monochrome Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2005 Type: Photography Material: Chromogenic print on paper Measures: 178 x 118,6 cm Acces / purchase date: 2006 Inventory number: 1006 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell -
Man in Car, Powell Street (2012) Man in Car, Powell Street Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2012 Type: Photography Material: Inkjet print mounted on Dibond Measures: 99,9 x 125,3 cm Acces / purchase date: 2012 Inventory number: 1212 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell -
Snail Seller (2009) Snail Seller Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2009 Type: Photography Material: Inkjet print mounted with Diasec Measures: 63,5 x 96,5 cm Acces / purchase date: 2011 Inventory number: 1203 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell -
Bougainvillea (2004) Bougainvillea Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2004 Type: Photography Material: Chromogenic print on paper Measures: 100,7 x 125,7 cm Acces / purchase date: 2005 Inventory number: 0960 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell -
Shopfront (2004) Shopfront Artist: Stephen Waddell Dating: 2004 Type: Photography Material: C-print on paper Measures: 145 x 97 cm Acces / purchase date: 2005 Inventory number: 0961 Copyright: © Stephen Waddell
Waddell has made himself intimately familiar with the history of the depiction of everyday life. This includes the history of street photography itself, as well as 19th-century French painting (Manet, Degas, Caillebotte, Morisot, Vuillard) along with other historical moments when the intimate observation of anonymous urban life gave rise to exceptional images.
Living in Vancouver, Waddell developed his approach in an artistic climate informed by the work of Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, and Stan Douglas. But rather than making images through preparation and collaboration, Waddell remained light on his feet, trusting that the kinds of images he wanted to make could be chanced upon, noticed in their potential, and shaped into pictorial form. There is lightness in his observations, without overt reference to the history of art, and yet the strength of his pictures comes from an awareness of the artistic achievements of the past.
Very often Waddell is a lone observer photographing an isolated figure, involved in whatever they are doing. It could be work, or a moment of repose. Each figure is generally photographed from the side or back, at a distance that is intimate but unobtrusive. This means that the figure is not separated from their world, but is shown as a part of it, absorbed in it. The relation of figure to world might be pictorially and socially harmonious, or there might be signs of tension. But in the end, depiction is essentially an affectionate art. For all the gentle pictorial skill on display here, it is feelings of empathy, of joy taken in chance occurrence, and fascination with appearance as such that energize Waddell’s photographs.
David Campany