what? Painting

1983, Calgary, Alberta Canada
Mandy Stobo is an passionate artist, actor and single mother. She is dedicated to her family, her artwork and taking in as many new perspectives and experiences as she can in this life.



Mandy Stobo is an emerging artist originally from Calgary, Alberta who is currently working towards her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta College of Art and Design.

With a practice honoring the traditional use of figure ground relationship and formalistic approaches to creating solid, successful compositions, her work merges together a use of text, chalk and highly saturated hues of paint. Mandy's art is largely based on the process of painting; creating an original experience not only for herself, but also one to be experienced afterwards by the viewer. Her mark making is not left to chance, but rather follows formal elements of design and aspects of composition. As the moment is honored, the act of painting creates an almost silent harmony for Mandy, which then allows her to be daring and innovative on the Canvas.

Mandy draws inspiration for her art from the everyday world she lives in, as the use of colour plays an important roll in her paintings. For example, old lunch boxes, tin robots and even the wallpaper surrounding her collectively lead to a highly intense color pallet. Mandys eyes are constantly searching for combinations that she knows will explode on the canvas.

Imagery can be discovered in every layer of her paintings to act as a kind of doorway, a starting point into a world of ones own experience. Pictorial references can give certain moments in her work more accessibility, acting as trap doors that lead you into intense moments of paint, structured texts and an original time of reflection. As an artist, it is her obligation to investigate the many rolls of illusion that a rich pallet can manifest and to stimulate new experiences for the observer. A figure ground relationship and the layering of multiple materials work together to create a place of discovery and ignites imagination for the viewer.