Trebor

(aka Rob Stephenson)

Life is an ongoing exploration of ’things’.

After 50+ years of discovery and creation I am now at THAT junction, on THAT road where design crosses paths with abstract expression, visual communication and surrealism.

Out of the resulting chaos springs my art.

Being multidisciplinary allows me the freedom to meander through myriad mediums. Scrutinising them, analysing them, learning about them and then applying them, to bring together things which have not been seen together before.

Rob was born and bred in a small rural community called Ohariu Valley, 15 minutes out of Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city.

As a boy Rob would draw on anything and everything, much to his parent’s dismay. Walls. Doors. Windows… anything. Even paper sometimes. LOL. Giving-in to his artistic endeavours and to avoid more cleaning and redecorating bills, they allowed him to paint murals on his bedroom walls.

Rob would sit and draw and paint at every opportunity. His love of art carried on through primary and secondary school, where he was a leading influencer to paint murals on the outer walls of the classroom blocks.

His father also introduced Rob to black and white photography in his early teens. This is another artistic outlet he really enjoys. They used the home laundry, converted into a makeshift dark room, to produce many original and interesting images.

Among many artistic accolades, Rob took out second place in a high school art competition at age 13yrs. During his high school years (college they call in it NZ) Rob’s art teacher, Brian Wong, saw huge potential in Rob’s creative thinking so encouraged him to pursue a ‘Commercial Artists’ course. After finishing college with art, technical drawing, woodwork and metal work skills under his belt, he studied for 3 years full-time, plus night school, at what was then Wellington Polytechnic, graduating in 1985. While under the enormous pressure of deadlines from the Visual Communications Design & Photography Course, Rob still found time to paint and draw, even selling some works.