Paintings of Dancers, Divers, and other moving figures by Nicholas Stedman

Most of the paintings shown here concern the moving human figure and were painted with the help and collaboration of dancers and circus artists in Paris where I lived for 25 years, as well as various divers and other people I have worked with on the coasts of France and Sicily. I now live and work in Palermo, Italy.

They are organized into 6 galleries:

Fractal series: Here the background has been broken up in different ways and the figures are falling from or into a broken universe of ordered or chaotic fragments, exposing a new or empty space behind.

Orbital series: Acrobats, dancers, and other moving figures going through circular motions and arranged like hieroglyphs or in other abstract compositions.

Diver paintings: Male figures hesitating before they jump and looking at the water below them, or female figures that have jumped and are caught suspended in midair.

Polyptychs: Whole scenes and underlying narratives broken up into separate fragments. Fragments of the body before and after an event — the penetration of water or the paint film by a diver or the caress and burial of the body by wind and sand.

Chorus series: Paintings on a wide variety of materials such as acrylic fur, toile de Jouy, veil fabrics, and others.

Banners: A series of Tyvec banners and studies for the banners.

Current exhibition: group show in memoria Francesco Siracusa, a Sicilian gallerist who exhibited my work:        Opening 17 October 2025 – Trento, Spazio PierA

Last updated: 17 October2025 — Group Sho, Trento Italy