Stefan Gant

Stefan Gant’s practice and research explores the discourse of contemporary drawing. Through peer selection, Gant was selected as a finalist and exhibitor in 2007, 2010 and 2012 for the Jerwood Drawing Prize, London and UK tour. He was also ‘Highly Commended’ at the National Eisteddfod of Wales Visual Arts Exhibition in 2007.

Through his art practice, Gant challenges the notions of what drawing can be through the temporality of filmic medium. Through international peer review, James Cahill (“This is Tomorrow”, Contemporary Art Magazine, 2012) described Gant as an artist who pushes “the boundaries of what drawing constitutes.” 

He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been the recipient of Arts Council of Wales and Wales Arts International funding.

Gant is based in the School of The Arts and teaches across Fine Art Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes. He is also a co-founder of the Drawing Lab, the new research hub for drawing practice and theory.

Stefan Gant’s current project is The Tug of War Drawing Project (2013-2014), funded by Arts Council Wales and Wales Arts International. The project is a series of exhibitions and community participation events across Wales, the UK and internationally.

His 2013 project, Crossing the Line, incorporated video, audio, drawing, and improvisation. These methods initiated new approaches in drawing within traditional and new media processes. Crossing the Line was selected for the international exhibition Create, Observe, Perform at the Alkovi Galeria, Helsinki, and for the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012, the UK’s leading award in drawing – both of which provided further forums of dissemination. The Jerwood Drawing Prize panel included Stephen Coppel, Curator of the Modern Collection, Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum; Kate Macfarlane, Co-Director of The Drawing Room, London; and Lisa Milroy, Artist and Head of Graduate Painting, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London.

Gant developed his additional 2013 video projects, Keep Looking and Line No 22, through an intensive period of drawing development in which he explored approaches to drawing and theory through new media. Both videos were exhibited by selection at the National Eisteddfod of Wales Visual Arts Exhibition, August 2013.

Gant’s 2010 video documentary, Orange Circles, pays homage to a road tragedy in Landes, France. The documentary depicts the graphic signage made by circular police markings that denoted the remains of a victim. Gant’s video documentary, recorded in Landes, offered new insights into the depiction of drawing processes and recording through narrative video. Unique recording method and new visual approaches were extended through improvisation. The work was selected for The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2010exhibition, the UK’s leading award in drawing.
 
From August 2009 to October 2010, Gant developed Song for the Auction Caller. He collaborated with music practitioners and communities in North Wales to develop new art conception and making processes. The vocals of three Welsh auction callers were developed into a musical arrangement designed for a choir – later collaborated with the Flint Male Voice Choir, North Wales. The work was the first of its kind, developing new insights into social and engagements and community artworks. The resulting work was selected for The Eisteddfod Visual Arts Exhibition 2009 at Y Lle Celf gallery, exposing the work to approximately 40,000 visitors weekly, and for artscreen, Orebro and Vasteras, Sweden, by international selection, providing access to the work to a further 10,000 visitors.

Stefan Gant delivers across Fine Art disciplines with specialisms including drawing, time-based and lens-based practices in BA and MA Fine Art programmes. He is interested in how students engage with discourse surrounding contemporary drawing practice and theory.

Pedagogic practice is enriched by the integration and founding of the Drawing Lab, designed to offer students the opportunity to consider and engage with drawing within their practice. The Drawing Lab is a creative hub where pedagogy, ideas and artistic development can be enhanced through access to an experimental space, devoted to the discourse of drawing and other mark-making activities.

Gant’s research challenges the ideologies and notions of drawing within contemporary practice. This approach informs his teaching, wherein students are asked to consider how they might engage in a theoretical form of practice and, equally, how they might practice theory. Gant’s research enquiry nourishes all Fine Art undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.