Artist’s Statement: 

Irwin's take on our dense urbanscapes remind us that even bricks and mortar don't last forever. These layered works test the boundaries of photography and bring a sense of organic vitality back to our cities.

Adriana Marques - Rise Art Curator

Steven Irwin explores the balance of nature and the manmade, layering surreal cinematic scenes with manipulated photographs. He travels the world in search of modern urbanscapes and iconic architecture, blending these scenes with the human form.

Saatchi Art Curator

Steven Irwin is a Cardiff-based filmmaker and photographer whose work explores themes of decay and civilisation. Steven uses a mixture of analogue and digital techniques to create photomontage cityscapes. Through digital manipulation as well as physical layering, scratching and staining, the artist creates dense, textured images. His cityscapes have a rough finish that gives them a delightfully fresh and edgy tone.

Steven trained at the Cardiff College of Art. He has had a number of group shows over the past decade, as well as a couple of solo shows at MoMA Wales and the Penarth Pavilion Gallery.

The artist’s work is featured in private collections worldwide. His photomontages have also appeared in The Evening Standard and The Guardian newspaper.

The artist often depicts objects that have rusted - a contemporary motif of decay and mortality. A prevalent theme in the artist's work is the effects of climate change on large city conurbations.

When Cities Were Forests has been inspired by recent visits to cities. City skylines have been modified and arranged to create abstracted scenes which consider the evolution of urban spaces. 

Neon Desert is inspired by travelling through California and Nevada, experiencing the conflict of natural and constructed environments.

Urban Tribe explores man's relationship with the urban landscape.

Dark Light is a series that looks at light pollution in urban areas.