For Steventon, Art is manifested in a post-quantum environment. A philosophy where there are no binary opposites, no 1 or 0, no black or white, no Liverpool or Everton. Instead of this or that it becomes this and that, black and white become grey, 1-0 becomes a score draw. Liverpool and Everton on cup final day in 1989 allegedly became one big happy family.

Heisenberg observed that making a measurement on an entity alters that entity. The act of observation changes that which is observed.

Steventon considers both Id and Ego, how he perceives the Art and how it is received by the audience.

For Machiavelli, in a nutshell, the end justifies the means. For Steventon there is no real separation of ends and means. There is instead a relationship which is circular and ongoing. Traditionally artist and audience are divided; they are Liverpool and Everton. In Steventon’s interpretation, manifestation and response, they are United.

As an Artist, James Steventon is an intelligent and articulate presence whose sceptical and questioning work highlights the debate within himself as to how to set about making Art he can believe in.

That this often necessitates texts to explain and justify his position puts a strain on the objects he makes. The argument can become the work and not the other way round. An open, experimental attitude where risk taking is valued can quickly give way to a more calculating, control given way of working.

But a sharp and ludicrous sense of humour runs through Steventon’s work opening it up and highlighting the effect of his reading. The ambivalence of his position being easy to empathise with.

I hope Steventon continues to find audiences to practise upon, and to gain enough from doing and making to continue what he has begun so interestingly.