Curated Treasures
STEVE CAMPS (b.1957) - Original Oil Painting "Swimming In The Tub"
STEVE CAMPS (b.1957) - Original Oil Painting "Swimming In The Tub"
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Artist: Steve Camps
Title: Swimming In The Tub
Medium: Oil on board
Edition: Original, One of a kind
Artwork Dimensions: 49cm x 38cm (20" x 16")
Frame Dimensions: 60cm x 49cm (24" x 16")
Condition: New, mounting hardware not included
Gallery Price: £1,500 for similar sized originals
About the artwork
Steve Camps’ style sits firmly in a playful, naïve tradition, but with a very deliberate sense of composition and humour. He tends to take large, usually ocean‑bound creatures—most often whales—and place them in small, everyday domestic spaces. That contrast is the core of his visual language: oversized marine life treated as if they were household companions. His lines are clean, his forms simplified, and his colours bright but not overly saturated, giving each piece a friendly, approachable feel.
He often uses flat, uncluttered backgrounds to keep the focus on the central joke or scenario, and he favours bold framing choices—sometimes reclaimed wood, sometimes brightly painted frames—to enhance the handmade, slightly eccentric character of the work. The compositions are usually straightforward and front‑facing, almost like stage sets, which reinforces the sense that each painting is a small scene from a whimsical story.
In Swimming In The Tub, all of these traits are present: the gentle absurdity of whales in a bathtub, the tidy domestic setting, the simple shapes, and the clear, illustrative style. It’s typical of Camps’ approach—light‑hearted, instantly readable, and rooted in a kind of coastal humour that feels both contemporary and folk‑inspired.
About the Artist
Steve Camps is a contemporary Cornish painter whose work radiates a warm, narrative‑driven affection for the coast, blending naïve stylisation with a quietly sophisticated sense of composition. Born in 1957, he has spent much of his life immersed in the rhythms, folklore, and visual language of Cornwall’s harbours and headlands, and this deep familiarity infuses his paintings with an authenticity that feels lived rather than observed. Camps favours bold, saturated colour and simplified, almost sculptural forms, creating scenes that hover between illustration and fine art, where whales grin, boats bustle, and lighthouses stand like cheerful guardians of the shore. His imagery often carries a gentle humour—never forced, always affectionate—suggesting small stories unfolding beneath the surface: a race, a chase, a moment of seaside mischief. Though playful, his work is far from simplistic; the balance of shape, rhythm, and negative space reveals an artist who understands how to orchestrate visual harmony. Regularly appearing in regional galleries and auctions, Camps has built a loyal following among collectors who appreciate his ability to capture the spirit of coastal life with both charm and clarity, offering paintings that feel at once nostalgic, contemporary, and unmistakably his own.
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