Steve May
Army, Painter
Steve grew up in, and around, the working-class suburb of Broadmeadows in Victoria. His family unit consisted of his Mum, his sister and Steve.
“I remember my childhood being a bit rough. We moved around a lot. This meant changing schools quite often,” he says.
His creative streak was exposed in high school, where he studied art up until Year 12 and was accepted into RMIT University in the Creative Arts faculty.
“My Mum was raising me and she didn’t have the money for me to go to art college, and I would have had to support myself. At that stage, I wasn’t mentally ready for it, either. I bummed around for about four years after school.”
Now, as an established artist who has developed his skills through his lived experiences, Steve reflects, “what is learnt at university can become a cliche.”
After a few years of ‘bumming around’, Steve wasn’t completely happy with the direction his life was taking. Feeling the need to develop some self-discipline, he enlisted in the Australian army, doing his military training at Kapooka in New South Wales.
“I couldn’t do drill. But I focused and got stuck into it and got Most Improved Recruit. I felt I had to do the stuff myself and that nobody had my back. It was all up to me. It needed a strong mindset. It was good for me.”
Steve then spent five years in the Infantry in the 5th/7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5/7 RAR), mostly at Holsworthy, also in NSW. Military life suited Steve and he developed a lifelong discipline and work ethic as he worked hard and completed many courses there. He also enjoyed honing his physical skills and is particularly proud of his award for Physical Fitness at the School of Infantry.
“Army life was good for me.”
At this time Steve was able to reconnect with his dad, who had been diagnosed with cancer, and was living in Melbourne.. The army gave Steve a compassionate posting there in order to play a support role for his father. Later, fate stepped in, when he was about to be transferred to 1 RAR in North Queensland.
“I met a girl in Melbourne. I wanted to see where that relationship might go, so I decided to leave the army. We married and are still together, with two sons, over 20 years later,” he laughs.
There were times, post-military, when Steve suffered from depression and he doesn’t know where this came from.
“You can accomplish great things if you keep up the discipline learnt in the army. I use that. I also know that I have to look after myself.”
After leaving the army, Steve started his own motor restoration shop, and began painting custom cars, hot rods and motor bikes.
“I think I basically just fell into it. I didn’t have any training. My dad had been a panel beater but I didn’t really learn anything from him because he was never around.”
His creative talent was coming from within as he began to win trophies for his work and was listed in many magazines.
This was merely a stepping stone for Steve and he next worked on large scale realist paintings, which were soon being exhibited around Melbourne and regional Victoria. Many of his portraits feature familiar faces and his painting of television identity, Dylan Lewis, was a finalist for the prestigious Doug Moran art prize in 2012.
“He was in Star Wars so I painted him dunking a Star Wars robot into a cafe latte. I wanted to incorporate things from his life into the painting,” Steve says.
His mantra is No one wants to eat spaghetti bolognaise every night. He aims to keep variety in his work and his style constantly evolves and changes. Steve admired the work of Albert Tucker and Charles Blackman in the Heide Museum of Art and this encouraged his style to move in a new direction. Freed from the constraints of accuracy, he plays with colour and looseness of brushstrokes. He began by using the army in his work, as a way to include Australiana.
“If people from around the world are looking at my paintings, I want them to immediately think, ‘This guy’s an Aussie’.
“There’s one painting I love. It’s of a boy holding a teddy bear. He’s got no one to play with and he’s missing his dad. He’s wearing a slouch hat, so his father could be on Operations or simply not in his life. My old man did a runner, so it comes from the heart. I don’t paint for anyone else - just for myself.”
Steve currently uses sign-writing enamel paint. The result is a combination of colour and a personal exploration of emotions.
“It’s a brighter paint and I really like what I’m getting with it. I love the colours and the smell of it. It’s very textual. It gives an old-school effect that I’m looking for. I also love using black in the background, as it makes the colours ‘pop’. My recent work is quite dark and it might be reflective of this time of Covid. I want my work to jump out at you because of the colour. It may not be a traditional way of putting colours together, but I love the way it turns out.”
Steve’s two sons, Josh and Aidan, have watched him paint since they were babies and both are leading creative lives.
“Josh is a musician. He’s like me. He gets obsessive about it when he’s creating. Aidan likes art. I tell them, ‘You’ve got to have a crack. That’s all you can do’.
“To me, if it’s not real and not from the heart, I feel like a fraud. I have to feel it - like a Jedi knight from Star Wars.”
@steve_may_painter
