How Leo Stevenson Sees the World

After decades mastering the ways other artists saw the world, Leo Stevenson invites us to see it through his own eyes.

Finding the Centre, a major solo exhibition by British artist Leo Stevenson, opens at Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester, on 1 September 2026, bringing together a remarkable body of original oil paintings that marks a significant moment in an unusual artistic career.

For more than thirty-five years, Stevenson has followed an unconventional path through the art world. After working at the British Museum, he became known for creating original paintings in the styles of some of history's greatest artists. Not copies, but entirely new compositions that inhabited the visual language and spirit of painters from Monet to Hockney. His technical mastery led to illustration commissions, television appearances and a reputation as one of Britain's most versatile artists.

Yet all of that experience eventually led Leo to a different question; Not how another artist would paint the world...but how Leo Stevenson saw it.

Finding the Centre marks that moment.

Bringing together landscapes, cityscapes, seascapes and interiors, including several new works created especially for the exhibition, Finding the Centre reveals an artist concerned with atmosphere, place and the ability of painting to communicate an experience.

From the streets of Chichester and the Sussex coastline to subjects further afield, Stevenson is less interested in simply recording what he sees than in conveying something of what it felt like to be there.

Underlying the exhibition is a deep commitment to painting as a physical craft. In an increasingly image-driven world, Stevenson remains fascinated by the transformation of paint and canvas into something tangible: an object made by hand, with the potential to connect with another person.

Stevenson explains:

I see value in the craft of painting - the hands-on process of creating an object and not just an image. I'm trying to make atmospheric paintings that connect and communicate with people.

Many of the works have never previously been exhibited, making Finding the Centre the first opportunity to experience this body of work as a whole. While the exhibition acknowledges the remarkable journey that brought Stevenson to this point, it is ultimately less about looking back than looking ahead. It is the story of an artist who spent decades mastering the ways other artists saw the world and now shares a body of work that reflects a lifetime spent refining his own way of seeing.