Artist Statement
My work explores the intersection of structure and emotion through a blend of painting, photography, and design. Influenced by Chuck Close—first as a teacher, later as a friend—I adopted the grid as both a visual and conceptual foundation. Whether in my pointillist-inspired “dots and grids” or photorealistic works like Kisses and Home Run, I use symmetry, repetition, and precision to create compositions that emerge gradually and intentionally.
In my recent series, The Word and Word 2, I focus on language itself. These text-based paintings feature single words or short phrases—“if,” “whew,” “silent sunrise,” “hanky panky”—each layered with ambiguity, humor, or quiet intensity. The words float within meticulously constructed grids of dots, elevating everyday language into visual form. By isolating and rendering these fragments of speech, I invite viewers to reflect on how language shapes thought, memory, and human connection.
My practice—whether in painting or architecture—returns again and again to grids and systems, not as limitations, but as foundations for exploration. I’m drawn to what lies beneath the surface: how structure holds meaning, how repetition reveals nuance, and how even the simplest word can carry unexpected weight.
About
Stephen Bezas is a New York City-born artist whose paintings merge structural precision with emotional depth. A graduate of the prestigious High School of Art and Design and the School of Visual Arts, he studied under Chuck Close, whose use of grids profoundly shaped Bezas’ approach to both painting and design. That influence is evident in Bezas’ photorealistic works like Kisses and Home Run, where realistic imagery is rendered through a unique system of dots and grids.
Rooted in a contemporary evolution of pointillism, Bezas’ work features meticulously placed dots—layered in stacked, alternating patterns within underlying grids—that build movement, rhythm, and gradual visual revelation. Inspired by Seurat, Signac, and the logic of architecture, he fuses the sensibilities of painting, photography, and design into compositions that are both meditative and formally rigorous.
Over the past several years, Bezas has developed The Word and Word 2—ongoing series of text-based paintings that explore the power and poetry of language. Each canvas features a single word or phrase—if, whew, silent sunrise, hanky panky—rendered within his signature grid system. These works elevate everyday words into visual icons, expressing emotion, ambiguity, humor, and contemplation. They invite the viewer to consider how language shapes our experience and how form can hold both meaning and mystery.
Alongside his art practice, Bezas has had a successful career in architecture and interior design. His design work, grounded in symmetry and spatial clarity, continues to inform the visual logic of his paintings—bridging the structural and the symbolic in a unified, evolving vision.
Design Work: sabdesign.net
Cold Spring Harbor, NY studio