Josh Stover: After Hours

December 2 - 28, 2023 

Josh Stover (Oregon) 

Josh Stover is a Portland based artist and sign painter and is one half of the sign painting & design studio Variety Shop. Josh grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida and attended the University of Florida where he completed his BFA in ceramics.Josh’s paintings depict part seen, part imagined environments and still life scenes that evoke the nostalgia and aesthetics of days past, but feel at home in the present. Working in acrylic and gouache, he recalls and invents interiors and objects inspired by the colors and shapes of old signs, vintage packaging and children’s book illustrations, and the nostalgia of old homes and furnishings. He uses flat blocks of color combined with graphic shading and altered perspective to give his paintings a playful quality.

Title: After Hours

After Hours is an exhibition of paintings and drawings about being out in the city late at night. I am interested in the way places can take on a surreal, otherworldly quality in the middle of the night. Places that are benign during daytime hours have an element of danger after hours. My goal with this work was to create a mood of unease and mystery. This show is also a nod to one of my favorite films (also titled After Hours) by Martin Scorsese. The film takes place in the span of a night and leads the protagonist on a twisting path of bars and diners, meeting eccentric characters along the way, as he tries to make his way back home.