Belgian painter Stivi is a master of several wildly differing aesthetics. Her oil portraits are delicately rendered, hyperrealistic life studies with invisible brushstrokes and a tempered palette. Her abstract paintings are outrageous collections of color with a refined sense of texture. Finally, her mixed-media pieces combine found objects with a raw physicality to create a controlled chaos. Varied though they are, every one of Stivi’s works share an emotional, dramatic flair.
Stivi has said that what is most important about her art is not any piece itself, but the interpretation that it conjures in the mind of the viewer. To that end she leaves all her works open-ended in one way or another. Her portrait subjects’ expressions are charged yet inscrutable – the viewer must fill in their story. Her abstract works contain endless details in their composition and churning colors. And her mixed-media work entices the audience by putting recognizable objects into a completely imaginary visual universe.
Stivi was born in the former Yugoslavia and today lives in Belgium, where she also pursues a deep interest in music.
