Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 8

Stephen Basso
Precarious, Nude dark colors female nude figure on top of tilting pillows

1987

About the Item

An early work by the artist depicting a Nude posing atop a totem. ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works are alive with boundless imagination, wry wit and fearless color. His shrewd social observations often translate into eerily humorous figurative scenes and narratives. Mr. Basso’s works evoke a high level of inquiry. The fanciful, yet keenly observed characters are unpredictable and evocative. The viewer vacillates between surprise, delight, and consternation. A Brooklyn native, much of Basso's wildly imaginative artwork was inspired by travel to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and especially Mexico. Basso is particularly drawn to Latin American art, channeling its mix of Western and African influences and imagery into his vibrant, often surrealistic work. Combining a New York and a Mexican sensibility, he says of his work, "There is a natural surreal quality to Mexico that can collide with its harsh realities. One might call it bittersweet. It is often bawdy, but rarely vulgar, and images are everywhere. Love, hate, fear desire and of course, humor, never go out of style.” And he adds, " I like mixing high ideals with American irreverence." The elements of mystery, escapism, and humor blended with reality define his art. It is of a personal nature consisting of a cast of characters that inhabit the stage between the extreme highs and lows of life, a state of limbo where dreamlike scenarios are often pulled back to the reality of daily existence. Of his process, Mr. Basso says, "The paintings and drawings begin with objects around my home and studio, photos from various sources, and people I know, have known, or have yet to meet." By in large, Basso is self taught. (After initially attending the School of Visual Arts for Illustration, he realized painting was more engaging for him.) Seeking emotional honesty, he looked to the work of several "mentors": Max Beckmann, Francisco Goya, Willem de Kooning , Philip Guston , Marsden Hartley and Albert Pinkham Ryder - artists that spoke to the human condition. of pillows that cannot sustain her weight. The work is signed and dated bottom left hand corner
  • Creator:
    Stephen Basso (1953, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1987
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 20 in (50.8 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1339114474972

More From This Seller

View All
Queen of the Night, narrative, partial nude figure, red colors, ethnic fabrics
By Audrey Anastasi
Located in Brooklyn, NY
ABOUT the artist: Audrey Frank Anastasi is a prolific feminist artist, working in painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, & printmaking. She is also curator, gallerist, educator and arts advocate. Most of Ms. Anastasi's figurative works are painted with her non-dominant left hand. She has created large bodies of works of birds, animals and birch trees. She has had 20 solo & 200 group shows. Her "ref-u-gee" series will be shown in 2020 at Medgar Evers College in collaboration with the Valentine Museum of Art, Brooklyn. Accompanying the show will be a limited-edition monograph w/ over 180 images and a foreword by Phyllis Braff. Ms. Anastasi's collage series was exhibited at Welancora Gallery, Brooklyn, in May, 2019. In 2018, ten paintings were exhibited in "Painting to Survive," curated by Yale critic Jonathan Weinberg. Book and catalog publications include "Stations of the Cross", SPQR press, BREUCKELEN magazine, “Audrey Frank Anastasi”, catalog essay Cindy Nemser, and "Collage," essay by Giancarlo T. Roma. Public art includes a portrait of Jo Davidson...
Category

2010s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mirage, male nude
By Audrey Anastasi
Located in Brooklyn, NY
In this series, Audrey Anastasi has shifted her focus away from naturalistic domestic settings to a dark, enigmatic, and some might say, unsettling, place. These figures could be he...
Category

2010s Contemporary Nude Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Red Ophelia, colorful abstract female nude
By Tom Bennett
Located in Brooklyn, NY
An expressionist figurative oil painting integrating abstracted form and color. The title suggests the classic Shakespearean character from Hamlet and the symbolism of beauty, madnes...
Category

2010s Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Released, male nude, dark colors
By Audrey Anastasi
Located in Brooklyn, NY
In this series, Audrey Anastasi has shifted her focus away from naturalistic domestic settings to a dark, enigmatic, and some might say, unsettling, pl...
Category

2010s Contemporary Nude Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Unfinished Thought, female nude, abstracted figurative painting earth tones
By Tom Bennett
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Expressionist, abstracted figurative female nude About Tom Bennett: With quick brushstrokes, Tom Bennett creates representational images of human figures and animals, emphasizing mo...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Expressionist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Queen of Hearts female nude large red heart big valentine love erotic
By Stephen Basso
Located in Brooklyn, NY
oil on canvas on heavy stretcher framing recommended but not necessary
Category

Early 2000s Neo-Expressionist Nude Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

You May Also Like

Who Am I
By Kenneth B Walsh
Located in East Hampton, NY
Cubism Style Post Modern American Modern Acrylic on Canvas Comes UNFRAMED About the Artist: Kenneth B Walsh (1922-1980) In the 1950s, Kenneth Bonar Walsh came to Montauk from New Y...
Category

1970s American Modern Nude Paintings

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Acrylic

The Artist's Wife oil painting by Hans Burkhardt
By Hans Burkhardt
Located in Hudson, NY
Hans Burkhardt The Artist's Wife (1930) Oil on canvas, 20" x 16" 24" x 20 ½" x 1 ½" framed Dated 1930 lower right recto. Annotated "To Elsa HB Louise Burkhardt 1930. HB" verso. ...
Category

1930s American Modern Nude Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Bathers, Modernist Nudes, Oil on Canvas, Signed and Titled
By Leon Kelly
Located in Doylestown, PA
"Bathers" by Philadelphia born modernist painter Leon Kelly, is a fantasy nude scene of two female figures, one with towel in hand, one only depicted as a portrait within the paintin...
Category

20th Century American Modern Nude Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Reclining Nude" Arthur B. Carles, Abstracted Nude, Early American Modernism
By Arthur Beecher Carles
Located in New York, NY
Arthur B. Carles Reclining Nude, circa 1920 Inscribed "Mercedes Matter" on the overlap Oil on canvas 32 x 51 inches Provenance The artist’s estate Mercedes Matter, the artist’s daug...
Category

1920s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

“Woman with Birds”
By Nahum Tschacbasov
Located in Southampton, NY
Original mid-century modern oil on canvas board painting of a woman with birds by the well known Russian/American artist Nahum Tschacbasov. Signed and ...
Category

1950s American Modern Nude Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Modernist Nude Figure Painting by Alma Davies, Student of Raphael Soyer
Located in New York, NY
Alma Davies Untitled, 1954 Oil on canvas 40 x 25 7/8 in. Signed verso: Alma Davies (illegible inscription) Dated verso: 3/5/54 Inscribed on stretcher bar: Student of Raphael Soyer W...
Category

1950s American Modern Nude Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Recently Viewed

View All