Interview by Jimon

1- Where do you currently reside and work? A little town called Heywood near Manchester in the UK,I have a humble wooden studio which I built in my mum’s garden.

2- How would you describe Steven Tunney? Raw, honest and probably the world’s greatest procrastinator.

3- Did you attend an art school or is it inherent? I never went to art school, I never really took any interest in art when I was at high school either; to be honest, I hated school.

4- How long have you been making art and what lead you to start? About ten years, I had a keen interest in photography for a while and in 2010 I lost my camera at the Glastonbury music festival, that’s when I started painting for the first time in my life. Initially, this was just to fill the void until I could get a new camera, but since that first painting I just can’t stop.

5- How did you acquire your style? Not sure if I have a style yet, if somebody walked into my studio for the first time, they could easily be forgiven for thinking that more than one artist works in there.

6- Have you ever come across a piece of art that you could not or did not want to stop looking at? Yes, too many to mention really. There is a piece that I have yet to see in the flesh though that I think would leave me spellbound. The lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse 1888.

7- Tell us something about the art world that you want to see changed? I can’t say I know anything about the art world really, if you mean the establishment, then I presume it’s full of fat, rich old farts masquerading as great philanthropists. So I guess like any old establishment, it serves only the chosen few and needs to be overthrown.

8- Why make art? Because I can’t stop, its an addiction. It’s my life.

9- The future is _________? A great man once said “The future is unwritten” and I agree. The future is just a thought and therefore does not exist. There is only ever the present moment.

10- What’s a day typically look like for you, from start to finish? The time I rise depends on the time I finally went to bed, but usually around 8am and starts with the first of several cups of strong coffee and cigarettes, I don’t read newspapers and I always try to avoid the news but, that’s difficult because the radio is always on in the background, I check my social media and usually post some work on Instagram. After more coffee and cigarettes I usually arrive at my studio at 10:30 where I usually work for 6–7 hours. My evenings are spent at home where I share an evening meal with my partner Amanda and watch a bit of TV, I sometimes spend the late hours working on small paper pieces in a little makeshift studio in the kitchen. It’s very rare that I go to bed before midnight.

11- What is the origin of your paintings? The origins and ideas for a lot of my work usually arise when I’m trying to sleep, but if I don’t write it down I’ve completely forgot by the morning. I’d say most of my work is pure intuition.

12- What advice would you give putative collectors? I’m not sure what putative means, but I would say don’t think twice, buy it now, you won’t regret it.

13- What’s the best advice you’ve ever received in regards to your art? To believe in myself, trust my intuition and paint for nobody but me.

14- How do you define success? As an artist success is being free to do what you love every day, success as a human being in general is simply being happy and kind.

15- Do you have a place/person/thing that you visit for inspiration? Not really, as I think inspiration is always present and can be found everywhere and in all things, it’s just a matter of tuning in to it, music always helps and I definitely find a lot of inspiration through the influence of music.

16- If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table? Joe Strummer, Jean Michel Basquiat and Tracey Emin.

17- Name three things you can’t live without in your studio? Music, tobacco and the endless cups of coffee and snacks provided by my mum.

18- If you were asking the questions what question would you ask and please follow with an answer. If you could steal a piece of art and get away with it, what would it be? Riding with death by Basquiat.

19- How would someone find you on Social Media? Instagaram @stevenjamestunney

20- Please name the first thing that comes to your mind while reading the following:

Art= life

Food= comfort

Sports= MCFC OK

Politics= for stupid people

Poor= underrated

God= like Jesus, still a commonly used word

Rich= miserable

Luxury= smoking in bars and gigs

Sex= not during interviews

Picasso= no comment

Religion= Cy Twombly