In front of the farmhouse where Stephan had his studio looms the Untersberg massif, a huge mass that he says has put a spell on him and so he started to sketch it, draw it and paint it.

 

In Stephan’s Untersberg series the mountain's sharp silhouette crowns the distance framed by air and ground, seen across a patchwork of plains whose vastness is measured by the presence of a far-off boundary. The visual impact is so strong that the pictures need no interpretation or explanation because the concept of space that charges these works may be derived but it is not abstract. It is a centered view and understanding of the mountain that encapsulates Stephan's achievement with a lucidity that appeals to representational, concrete and abstract visions alike. The Untersberg pictures present nature that is created by the light that calls it to life and leaves it in flux.