Bastiaan van Stenis is a mid-career South African artist, known primarily as a painter who also works in sculpture, installation, and assemblage. His ‘composite works’ incorporate found material, detritus from nature, and taxidermy (using animals that have died of natural causes). Bastiaan is largely self-taught, having developed his practice over years of application, experimentation, and research. In a literal sense, Bastiaan is an “outlier/outsider artist.” He lives and works in relative isolation, in small towns, farms, and rural environments. The artist’s attention to the connection between all living things and deep engagement with the natural world are integral to his practice. These ideas materialize in abstracted or primordial landscapes, devoid of humans. Bastiaan instinctively balances this figuration and abstraction, merging innovative painterly techniques and styles with a nuanced deference to art-historical touchstones. Incorporating elements of surrealism, expressionism, neo-romanticism, and, most significantly, the ultra-contemporary genre of “para-pastoralism.” Bastiaan has been probing these concerns for many years, long before the current curatorial trends. In this new body of work, ironically entitled 'Untimeous’, Bastiaan presents semi-abstracted landscape paintings. These works feel both out of time, of their time, and of the future, with anachronistic, mysterious, and ambiguous qualities. Flirting with the seduction of appealingly resolved works whilst engaging with the frustration of confronting work that is complexly layered and defies resolution. Evoking idyllic pastoral traditions of classic painting (e.g., Watteau and Poussin) and traditions within the canon of abstract painting. Including expressionism, colour field, and post-modern styles. His work offers a mysterious, futuristic vision reminiscent of cinematic science fiction, similar to directors such as Kubrick and Villeneuve. An element that distinguishes Bastiaan’s work from other artists in this newly populated space is an added layer of both optimism and humour. Volcanic plumes, chemical clouds, and the iridescent vapors form imaginary figures in the sky. Finding hybrid forms of composite beings in the air, rocks, and land. The paintings are liminal, chimeric, and imbued with an aura of rebirth. Playfulness is carefully restrained and only hinted at, amidst what can be read as a painful process of devastation and destruction. The man-made edifices are demolished with an air of liberation, and through the mist, dust, and decay, a new beginning seems to beckon. Ultimately, the work expresses a deep engagement with the self (and the subconscious), nature in its most ephemeral sense, and the animal world on a spiritual level. There is no offer of finite answers. Still, the work draws the viewer in to contemplate these life-defining issues and imagine a future for themselves.