Steve Whitehead

Biography

Steve Whitehead (b. 1960, Coventry, UK) is a British painter celebrated for his distinctive blend of magic realism and hyper-realism. He studied Fine Art at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, under David Tinker, completing his MA in the mid-1980s, and later continued his studies at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Steve has had a long career in Fine Art education, including leading the MA Painting course at the University of Hull’s Scarborough campus, and continues to teach Painting and Art History part-time.

Since 1985, he has exhibited widely across the UK and regularly in London galleries since 1997. His work has earned notable recognition, including two first prizes at the Wales Open Art Exhibition and awards from the Manchester Academy and the Hunting Art Prize. His paintings are held in prominent collections such as the Contemporary Art Society of Wales, Accenture, Prudential, Skye Pharma, and the Bank of Scotland.

Steve’s work is distinguished by its empathy, compositional strength, and meticulous detail, creating atmospheric, subtly surreal imagery. He now focuses primarily on the landscapes of North Yorkshire—its moors, wolds, and coastline. Drawing inspiration from 19th-century Neo-Classical and Romantic painting and 20th-century Realists, he studies his landscapes intensively through photography, sketching, and revisiting locations under changing light and weather. Compositions are often built from rearranged or composite elements, with watercolour studies preceding final oil paintings developed over weeks or months.

Explore Steve Whitehead’s captivating Venice paintings, available online and exclusively at Signet Contemporary Art. His works exemplify contemporary realism at its finest, capturing Venice’s light, movement, and spirit with exceptional sensitivity and precision.