Biography
Born in 1973 in London, Steven Porwol's work is rooted in a life-long interest in art and the avian world. Painting life-size in watercolour from pinned specimens, his influences range from d'Hondecoeter and the art of the Dutch Golden Age to that of the Nineteenth Century American naturalist John James Audubon and Hokusai and the Ukiyo-e artists of Japan. His work is held in private and public collections both in the UK and abroad.
The sense of life and movement found in a bird on the wing or taking flight is a recurrent theme, with birds running headlong, or twisting and turning in mid-air, or frozen into seemingly fantastical arrangements during a split-second moment between predator and prey. More recently he has also begun to explore the quieter aspects of their existence as objects of human fascination, often portraying them as defiant, or resigned, but always just beyond reach, caught within their own private realms.
He currently lives and works in Suffolk.
One Man Shows
Nov 2003 Park Walk Gallery, London - Flights of Fancy
Sept 2002 Park Walk Gallery, London - Recent Paintings
Oct 2001 Park Walk Gallery, London - Red in Tooth and Claw
Group Shows
2017 Christie's, London. The Astor Collection from Tillypronie. Lot 221. Peregrine and Hen Pheasants.
2015 Masterpiece Fair, London.
2001-2006
Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fair, London. UK
2005-2006
BADA Antiques Fair, Duke of York's, London, UK
2005
American Birds - A Flight Through Time, The Wildlife Experience Museum Colorado, USA
Wildlife Art for a New Century II, The National Museum of Wildlife Art, Wyoming, USA
Birds in Art, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA
2004
artLONDON, Duke of York's, London, UK.
IV Centuries of Birds, Clarke Galleries, NYC, New York, USA.
IV Centuries of Birds, Clarke Galleries, Palm Beach, Florida, USA
A Dealers Eye, Park Walk Gallery, London, UK
2003
Birds in Art, Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wisconsin, USA
IV Centuries of Birds, Clarke Galleries, Vermont, USA
Collections
The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum - Wausau, Wisconsin
Selected Press
2019
Fieldsports Journal, Oct/Nov - Front Cover, A Sense of Life and Movement, Interview
2007
The Field, Aug – The Field Interview, Steven Porwol
2004
Wildlife Art Magazine, Nov/Dec - Eye on European Artists, Steven Porwol by Chelsie Gawnemark
Shooting Times Magazine, July - Interview, Steven Porwol by Camilla Collinson
Sporting Shooter, May - What's Next in Sporting Painting
2003
The Field, Sept - No More 'Pretty Polly' Bird paintings - Godfrey Barker believes that Steven Porwol, the bird man of modern art, is a genius.
2002
Country Sports, Winter - Pheasants with Wagner
Shooting Times Magazine, Sept - One to Look Out For - Steven Porwol is following in the footsteps of the worlds greatest bird painters by Robert Cuthbert
Antiques Magazine, Sept - Heir to Audubon?
Country Life, Jan - Art in a Field of Its Own by Georgina Cecil
2001
Country Illustrated, Oct - Autumn Riches in London by Charles Lane
Shooting Times Magazine, Oct - Striking New Art
The Shooting Gazette, Nov - Front cover illustration