STEPHEN SHEFFIELD, a native of the Boston area, obtained his BFA in painting and mixed media from Cornell University in Ithaca NY, in 1988. He went on to receive his MFA in photography and mixed media from the California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA, in 1993. While at CCA, he studied directly under and was an artist assistant to Larry Sultan. He also studied under Cris Johnson, Jean Finley, Jim Goldberg, and was an artist assistant to Carrie Mae Weems.

EVERYMAN

Influenced by film noir, crime novels, and the projected memories of past eras, Sheffield constructs iconic moments of mystery, ambiguity, and male insecurity. Often the images depict Sheffield’s displaced figure dressed in a suit, standing, crouching, turning, walking, and leaning. The figure will sometimes be blurred from movement, heightening the sense of surrounding stillness.

Stephen has exhibited nationally for over 30 years, and his black and white photography is represented in Boston by Panopticon Gallery and in LA and internationally by the Duncan Miller Gallery - Collector Works Gallery and www.yourdailyphotograph.com

CUT TO FIT

“Cut To Fit” is drawn from purposefully specific decades of vintage materials and various collected imagery and limited to a 14x11” format.  Found imagery from just before the artist's birth, the 1940/50s, from popular magazines of the time, represents what has been perceived to be an ideal time. In this work, Sheffield explores the ideal façade presented in the advertisements, pushing up against the unease documented in many of the articles of the time. In this work, he attempts to further subvert that ideal and bring the past unease to light, while drawing a parallel to our own current political and social unease. Within this process, Sheffield cannot help but instill his aesthetic mixed with glimpses of humor, dread, and the anxiety of modern manhood using image juxtaposition, an occasional Polaroid or Cyanotype, and the inexact process of cutting with a scalpel and fixing the paper with glue.

COMMISSIONED ARTWORK

Influenced by past and modern masters of collage and montage such as Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, and Alexander Rodchenko, He works to construct iconic and sensitive intersecting moments between the past and the present. The collaborative spirit of commission work is challenging and inspiring, and produces a push and pull that, when done well, creates artwork that is highly satisfying for both the artist and the patron.

The large-scale commissions are for private collectors, institutions, restaurants, and hotels.  In addition to being a full-time artist, stephen ran the 2nd year black and white photography major at the New England School of Photography in Boston for 12 years until 2016, and is now faculty at the New Hampshire Institute of Art MFA Program.

PLEASE CONTACT ME to see additional work, for pricing or to discuss a future project.

BLACK & WHITE MAGAZINE - https://stephensheffield.blogspot.com/2026/04/cover-and-interview-in-black-white.html

Black & White Magazine Interview - http://stephensheffield.blogspot.com/2015/02/interview-with-photographs-in-black.html

Developed Images Interview - http://developedimages.org/2015/12/01/an-interview-with-stephen-sheffield/

Cornell University - http://aap.cornell.edu/

California College of the Arts - http://www.cca.edu/

New Hampshire Institute Of Art MFA Program - https://www.nhia.edu/graduate-studies/graduate-programs/mfa-in-photography

Panopticon Gallery - http://www.panopticongallery.com/

Board of Directors of the South Shore Arts Center - http://www.ssac.org