Stefan's Showtime

It rang, he picked up and I heard a few bars of guitar music followed by a jovial greeting in his soft canadian accent. It was the second time we had spoken over the net and his enthusiasm came bursting over from the speakers in my computer. I had a sore head from last nights bottle of red wine and was hoping I hadn't accidentally clicked on video chat where he would catch an eyeful of my bulldog chewing a wasp face and Mr Majeika hair. Its hard for a greeting like that not to lift your spirits.

We had already agreed that an exhibition in manchester would be a great idea, we just needed to suss out the how, when, who, where and what. I was, and still am convinced his abstract work is some of the best around. Its the most difficult to describe but looking at his work its clearly sophisticated. The classic, almost regal, colour palette ties in beautifully with his measured sweeps of contrasting colour. Looking at his work reminds me of when I first saw a Mark Rothko at the Tate. The more you look the more complex you realise it is and the more intelligent the work appears. Of course this sort of stuff doesn't translate onto the web so you need to get down to see the work in person.

Since that 1st conversation at the end of last year he has worked incredibly hard to create 40 new works for the solo show. They were delivered in dozens of cardboard boxes a couple of weeks ago and we had been itching to open them to see them in the canvas. We previewed his work on wednesday night and the exhibition runs until the 5th May.

The night had a great turnout. We have a loyal group who come to all our previews. Groups of friends come along to the previews have a good look, often buy and then go for a meal and a few drinks in the restaurants nearby. Stefan lives in Vienna so had made a big effort for the show. I had to say a few words to thank him for everything and he went on to describe a bit about the meaning of the exhibition "Irrefutable consequences".

Stefan is hanging around visiting relatives until moday I think when he will head back to the peace and calm of Vienna. We took a few photos that night so i have put them all below for you to have a look at. When a picture tells a thousand words it means i don't have to write them.