Steve ESPO Powers

Steve Powers’ works merge words, images and graphics that are reminiscent of signage and hand-painted signs. Incisive and bold, they visually represent the essence of the artist’s daily life. They describe the trials and tribulations of modern life: love, hate, frustration, desire, insecurity, rage, and the struggle for human existence.

With the use of witty wordplays, his messages are a mass of dense references and intuitions regarding our emotional concerns. Freeform poems made up of snippets similar to advertising copy in an era where computers dominate the worlds of signage, art, and communication. 

Joseph Becker, curator of the “Stephen ESPO Powers: Daymaker” show at SFMOMA, writes: “His work riffs off our emoticon-driven culture and his lyrical witticisms capture our collective unease with the rapidity- and often vapidity- of instantaneous communication. Powers reminds us of the importance of human connection, the inevitability of time, and the way we craft and re-craft our own personal narratives”.