about Stephen Romano

 

Born in Montreal in 1962, Stephen Romano apprenticed with British sculptor Ray Robinson from 1980 - 1982, after which he studied sculpture and drawing at the University of Windsor. Stephen then relocated to Canada's cultural capital of Toronto where he was a practicing artist, and participated in group shows at Artculture Resource Center, YYZ Artist's Outlet, Arteffect Gallery, among others.

By 1989 Stephen became interested in the commercial gallery business and was fortunate to have the opportunity to be mentored by Canada's leading art dealer the late Walter Moos. In 1991 Stephen was offered a position as Assistant to the Director at New York's 49th Parallel Center for Canadian Art, which was housed in the same building as prominent galleries such as Leo Castelli and Sonabend.

In 1993 Stephen returned to Toronto and worked with Miriam Shiell Fine Art, and afterwards worked at the Visual Arts Office of the Ontario Arts Council.

Returning to New York in 1996, Stephen began an 8 year experience as Gallery Manager of the Ricco Maresco Gallery, the leading gallery world wide in the field of Outsider Art. After this Stephen became a private art dealer specializing in the works of Outisder Art masters such as Henry Darger, Martin Ramirez, Charles Dellschau, Adolph Wolfli, and many others.

in 2014 Stephen Romano produced with Marquand Books the definitive monograph on America's earliest visionary artist Charles Dellschau, of which Stephen present the majority of the available works.

In 2014 Stephen opened a gallery project space in Brooklyn's Dumbo district. His program included exhibitions featuring prominent artists such as Colin Christian and William Mortensen among many others. Stephen also participated in art fairs such as The Outsider Art Fair, Pulse Art Fair, Scope Art Fair and The Metro Show, all in New York.

In 2015 Stephen Romano curated the exhibition "Opus Hypnagogia" at Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum. The exhibition received vast media coverage including a feature article in the New York Times.

Also in 2015 Stephen relocated the gallery to Brooklyn's Bushwick district and completed his program with exhibition by Rithika Merchant, Jel Ena, Charles Dellschau, David Molesky, Matthew Dutton, as well as the critically acclaimed exhibitions "Saint Bowie", "Magia Sexualis" and "Lexicon Infernali".

Stephen Romano has published several catalogs and essays by some of the most engaging and provocative writers of our time including the late Thomas McEvilley, Tom Patterson, David Ebony, Randall Morris, Christopher Ian Lutz, Barbara Safarova, A.D. Coleman, Allison C. Meier, Samuel D Gliner, Pam Grossman, Robert C. Morgan, and Idlu Lili Regulus.

Stephen Romano's exhibitions have received widespread critical acclaim, his exhibitions and curation have been covered in The New York Times on several occasions, Hi Fructose Magazine, Hyperallergic, Dangerous Minds, Vice, Slate, The Atlantic, Harper's, Juxtapoz, among many others.

Stephen Romano continues to be a private art dealer since late 2016, and has collaborated with many cultural institutions and galleries, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Reina Sophia Museum in Madrid, The American Folk Art Museum, Gagosian Gallery, Dark Mofo Festival in Tasmania, Pratt Institute, special exhibitions for The New York Book and Ephemera Fair, Morbid Anatomy at Greenwood Cemetery and most recently the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick in Cleveland. Stephen Romano Gallery continues to curate exhibitions in New York mixing contemporary, folk, historical and ephemeral artwork.

Stephen Romano is the primary dealer for the art of Charles Dellschau, William Mortensen and the North American presentation of the art of Wolfgang Grasse and Darcilio Lima.

for further information please contact Stephen Romano at romanostephen@gmail.com

Photograph by Amie Cubio.

 

Interview with Faye Dowling, ANTENNA .

 

 

link to interview

Link to Interview

Stephen Romano, Mark Lewis, Larry Sloman, Joe COleman, Whitney Ward 2015.

Interview with Charlotte Rodgers

Jennifer Lauren collector series interview