Senses Graffiti 01

Description

A riot of colour and contradiction, Senses Graffiti 01 is a vibrant explosion of perception — a painting that refuses hierarchy and instead invites the viewer to be fully, physically present.

Across the surface, Steit’s now-signature sensory pairings appear in bold, stencilled text:
SMELL & SCENT, HEAR & LISTEN, TOUCH & FEEL, LOOK & SEE, LEARN & KNOW, TASTE & SAVOUR.

These are not passive observations. They’re invitations — even provocations — to examine how we process the world, and how language shapes those processes. What does it mean to know something versus to learn it? To hear as opposed to listen? Steit’s doubling of terms resists easy comprehension, instead offering nuance and multiplicity.

The background — a kaleidoscopic blend of primary and secondary colours — reflects a visual language that recurs across the artist’s broader practice. From vibrant reds and yellows to rich blues, greens, and purples, this chromatic field evokes the full spectrum of sensation. These colours are not random — they are foundational, elemental, like the senses themselves. Splashes of gold punctuate the canvas like sparks of cognition or memory, inviting the viewer into a layered, synaesthetic experience.

This piece moves away from national or historic symbols and instead turns inward — toward the body, the mind, the act of perception. It’s less about where we are and more about how we are: how we move through the world, how we interpret it, and how easily our senses can be manipulated, numbed, or heightened.

There is no centre in this work, no hierarchy. Just as no one sense dominates the human experience, Steit gives each word equal visual weight, letting them float in a democratic field of sensory colour. The result is both a celebration of embodied knowledge and a critique of how we privilege certain types of understanding over others.

Created in Derbyshire, June 2025.

Original artwork specifications

• Stretched Canvas
• Glossy Spray paint Gold & Multi colour
• Varnish
• 60 x 60 x 1.5 cm
• Unique artwork

Canvas may have a slight size deviation up to a few millimetres.