The key to Brian Keith Stephens' "Almost True Tales" paintings is not so much their composition of folk tale imagery, but more of their surfaces. It is in these surfaces where their allure inheres. The effective term is "scumbled" - how delightfully the word describes the activity of a surface being scratched, abraded, mixed, and smeared. "The result is a surface that has layers of translucency and a contoured effect that suggests depth and variation rather than flatness. With this, it mirrors the folktales it depicts, for they too are surfaces that are not surfaces." When Brian was very young, he encountered a lamp in the shape of a rabbit with antelope horns - a "Jackalope". He was entranced. "What could this be? A portmanteau creature that seemed at once charming and sinister. The soft fur of a rabbit...the hard martial spike of the antlers...seemed jarring, otherworldly. It is something in this sense of wonder that Brian's paintings inspire in adult viewers. They do so in a way that is not quite as straightforward as it first may seem. Therein lies the power. Brian Keith Stephens was raised in the quaint town of North Stonington, CT. He became interested in photography before realizing his passion for painting at its roots. Stephens received classical training at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, CT. He then attended the Academie de la Grande Chamiere in Paris. Very early on, Stephens started showing his work to the public with undeniable enthusiasm. As a result, since 1996, his work has been featured in over 100 exhibitions internationally. In 2004, he received an MFA in painting from the City College of New York. Stephens has been affiliated with galleries in New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and in Italy, France, Poland, Denmark, and now Lily Pad Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Watch Hill, Rhode Island! Brian currently divides his time between Old Lyme, CT, Brooklyn, NY, and Lodz, Poland.