Showcasing the Works of Stephen Scott Young

The works of Stephen Scott Young (b.1957) are currently on view at Surovek Gallery.

 

Young began working with watercolor in 1976. He studied painting and printmaking at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida. He has skillfully, and absolutely, perfected his technique, making him one of America’s most masterful realist artists.

 

He began drawing at an early age, encouraged by his mother, who recognized his talent. Young’s father was in the military and was often transferred from base to base. Young was born in Hawaii but attended eleven schools in eleven years. That made it difficult to make friends, but easy to stay at home, with family, and draw.

 

While at the Ringling Art School, Young met Annette Farrington, who was studying graphic design. They married in 1981. Farrington is Bahamian, and traveling to the Bahamas was a serendipitous stroke of luck for Young. It was in the islands that he found his muse. 

 

 

Young paints seascapes, landscapes and other subjects, but is best known for his portraits of children in Eleuthera and Harbour Island. Each painting begins with dozens of studies. He pays the models and their chaperones (Young insists on each child being accompanied by a chaperone) and works from life, not from photographs. 

 

“The impact of light is what is most important,” he said, “and I do it by balancing my dark and light and juxtaposing the forms that make up my subject so that they are as enlightened as possible. I first see in black and white, the color comes next.” The drybrush technique that he uses is labor intensive, requiring many layers of pigment to create the color and light effect that defines his work.

 

Young has studios in Eleuthera and South Florida and is masterful at etching as well as drawing and painting. His works can be found in private collections and major museums around the world, and are currently on exhibit at the Florence County Museum in Florence, South Carolina. The group show, called The Three-Quarter Portrait, will run through February 1, 2026.

 

The works of Stephen Scott Young will be on view at Surovek Gallery through November 1, 2025. 

 

For inquires, please reach out to clay@surovekgallery.com

 

October 2, 2025