2022 Catalogue Archive

Riffing on both the still life genre and kitschy, mass-produced decor, Stephen D’Onofrio melds visual styles in his simplified, and often funny, paintings. He is fascinated by the artistic depictions of food throughout history and the various meanings and moralities tied to such paintings. In this work, overabundance, a common theme in still life, is pushed to absurdity in the mountain of apples and apricots that fill the blue and white bowl. Within this pile of orange and red fruits, D’Onofrio experiments with different painting styles and patterning. A particularly brushy apple is tucked in among flatter representations, and a glowing apricot radiates from the top right. D’Onofrio received his BFA and MFA from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and lives and works in Philadelphia.