...Through large scale projection, Stevens’ video works have an immersive quality that transforms the gallery space into an art house day spa. The treatment du jour? Exfoliation of the psyche! Whilst not necessarily critical of contemporary screen culture, Stevens’ work raises awareness of its pervasive influence. In the earliest of Stevens’ four works in this exhibition, Really Really (2007), the text of a love letter drifts in a universe to a sweeping score of luscious piano arpeggios. Propelling cliché to dizzying heights, the work is literally a romance written in the stars - tacky and beautiful — eternal love in all its glory. In other works, Thinking Feeling 2011 and Haven 2014, Stevens incorporates clouds, floating hazes of purple and blue, textual imagery that emerges and dissolves and tingling new age soundscapes to suggest boundlessness. All of this is in direct contrast to his words which allude to self-imposed limitations and the need for affirmation. In Happiness 2018, the screen is constantly sprinkled with mantras and phrases borrowed from mindfulness meditation, corporate training, cognitive therapy, online dating, and job applications4 . Stevens draws attention to the white noise of platitude and the banality of self-obsession. There is considerable emphasis on our preoccupation with feelings in Stevens’ works — a sense that our actions are somehow governed by or connected to how good or bad we feel. Standing in front of these works I am reminded that my electricity bill needs to be paid… regardless of my feelings about it. To return to my question about the emergence of and need for inspirational homewares… #onlyangrypeopleneedtocalmdown...