Former engineer in first art show at Ludlow
A former engineer who turned his hand to art is now selling his work to Australia as an exhibition returns to a county town this week.
Stephen Fox's first exhibition at Ludlow Library, this time last year, was an unexpected hit with residents and visitors to the extent it ran for twice the original allotted time.
Now his unique and colourful work, which depicts people and scenes made up of complex patterns, has returned to the venue for a second year.
Mr Fox's unusual style has been compared to Picasso and Australian aboriginal art, but he is most influenced by the pop art of Andy Warhol, he said.
While mostly self-taught, Mr Fox's art teacher at school was none other than Mary Whitehouse, who taught at Madeley Modern School, now Abraham Darby Academy, before becoming famous as a campaigner to clean up TV in the 1970s and 1980s.
The 65-year-old has been painting since he was about eight but has only been exhibiting work in the past couple of years.
He said the Ludlow exhibition was of all new paintings from the past year, a time which has seen his new career take off.
"I'm taking commissions and I've got a full order book," he said. "A lot of people have said my art looks like aboriginal art, and I've now broken into the Australian market.
"I've just sold some works to a lady who has moved over there and now I've got orders coming from Australia."
He said: "This year I've joined Ludlow Arts Society which means another three exhibitions a year, and we're starting a an 'art and words' workshop in February with poets and artists, which will be filmed – I've got a busy year coming up."
The exhibition of Mr Fox's work at Ludlow Library, on Parkway off Upper Galdeford car park, runs until the end of February.
