Steve Wells - A Table

A simple table. An uncommon meal. In photographer Steve Wells’ foundational art series, bulimic impulses are brought to the forefront as people abandon themselves to their most profound desires and revel in their own addictions. The simple décor adds an element of quotidian honesty to an otherwise exaggerated relationship between the individual and his/her work, creation, obsession.

Born from a difficult period in Steve’s life, during which he created a self portrait “just of me, with an empty table setting, eating a spoonful of air.” A Table represents a hyper-characterisation of his subjects, pushing the limits of what drives or repulses them, featuring a host of faces including famed bad-boy Pete Doherty.

Steve’s initiation to photography began when he received his grandfather’s camera for Christmas in 2000. He finds inspiration in the commonplace, and from there seeks to distort our habitual perceptions to create something slightly twisted; the interplay of cheeky irreverence and profound social commentary are at the heart of his work. A multifaceted photographer, he finds the energy of a moment, a person or an object the greatest source of inspiration.

Born in Zambia, raised in New Zealand where he was a founding member of platinum-selling rock bank Fur Patrol and now working as a freelance photographer in Paris, Steve Wells’ work shows a depth and range as profound as his own life experiences.