(1934–2000) Ian Stephenson was born in 1934 in Co Durham. He trained at King's College, University of Durham, and taught there with Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton. The New Art Centre gave Ian Stephenson his first solo show in London in 1962 and continued to exhibit him throughout the '60s. He had a one-man exhibition at the Hayward Gallery (1977) and his work is in the collections of the Tate, the Arts Council, the Whitworth Art Gallery and the British Council, amongst many others. He died in 2000.

Stephenson's work was selected by Antonioni to be included in his seminal film Blow-Up, of 1966, after he had recognised during a studio visit the effects of changing focus and scale.

Open from 20 June - 12 September 2026, Ian Stephenson: Planes of Heaven is a major exhibition showing across several galleries at Roche Court. The work of Ian Stephenson is the result of a practice informed by curiosity. By discovering how falling paint can form different spaces and conglomerations of innumerable marks, he created intricate and mesmerising images, whilst asking questions of the nature of the universe, its infinite bounds, and our place within it.

Please contact us for more information on work by Ian Stephenson.