Giving physical structure to memory, Stephenson builds spaces that hold visual remnants of the unconscious mind. She approaches her canvases as fertile surfaces with the potential to recreate an emotion or bodily sensation. Stephenson applies thin layers of brightly colored paint that seep and recede into her canvases before revealing a final image. Minute gestures—such as a small slit, a fine thread, or a sliver of light—provides entry points into these highly-saturated surfaces, inviting viewers to look closer. Inanimate objects assume a central role within Stephenson’s world, expanding and contracting within vast, yet barely populated fields of vision that offer room for movement and exploration. Within these liminal spaces, Stephenson plays with scale, shifting between colossal structures and minuscule forms that dislodge her viewer from any logical sense of space and instead encourage an introspective spatial awareness.

Mary Stephenson (b. 1989 London, UK) lives and works in London, UK. She graduated from the Royal Academy Schools, London in 2023 and the Glasgow School of Art in 2011. Stephenson has had solo exhibitions at Chapter NY, New York; MASSIMODECARLO, Paris; LINSEED Projects, Shanghai; and Incubator, London. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Jeremy Scholar, London; Rose Easton, London; Michael Werner Gallery, London; and Ginny on Frederick, London; among others. Her work has been acquired by the Loewe Art Collection, Madrid and the Government Art Collection, London. In January 2025, Stephenson will have a solo exhibition at White Cube in Paris.