Artist’s Bio

Arran Stephens is a self-taught artist who paints lightness and fractal color into portraits, landscapes, magic realism and myths, reflecting glimmers of spirit; each creation with a message.
 
His inspiration arises from inner depths imbuing a kind of otherworldly, jewel-toned beauty—passageways to rooms seldom explored.
 
Embracing art as form of meditation, Arran draws inspiration from Sages, Nature and Spirit. Since 1965, he’s consistently followed a seeker’s commitment to a compassionate diet and inner practice, with a love of unspoiled nature, service to others and philanthropy. As found in many indigenous cultures, he respects the sacredness of life, and within his art is revealed a spiritual relationship to, and with reverential awe of the amazing beauty found within the threatened natural world.
 
We discover in Arran’s vision a place where the making of a painting is of equal importance as the finished art itself. You can see the evolution of his crude efforts from childhood, teens and now into his seventies. He wanted to formally study art, but unforeseen events resulted in dropping out of school at fifteen to pursue life and art independently, even living on the streets and beaches of Los Angeles, struggling with substance abuse, hunger and existential challenges. Fortunately, he passed through this dark period into a disciplined and more purposeful life. 

Arran was a relentless seeker of truth on a journey which led him to India in 1967, ‘68, ‘69 and ‘74, where he studied meditation, philosophy, spirituality and ethics with his beloved mentor, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj (1894-1974) and his noble successors, about which he beautifully recorded his experiences, struggles, breakthroughs and realizations in a memoir written over a forty year period (Moth & the Flame link). For approximately forty years, he took a hiatus from painting, to build a family and create North America’s largest independent and organic breakfast cereal company, Nature’s Path Foods—which he and Ratana, his lifelong partner, have passed on as a legacy to the next generation of leaders. Arran and Ratana have received numerous awards and recognition for their service to society and generosity. While his outward life has been one of intense and productive intensity, including a deep passion for spreading a healthy plant-based diet, regenerative organic gardening and the preservation of our threatened environment, inside he’s remained a reflective, a hermit of the heart, steadfast in his daily meditation practice. It’s hard to imagine just how much this individual has accomplished in one life.

— notes by Ken McCormick

Artistic influences

Arran’s painterly influences include:
Leonardo DaVinci, Matthias Grünewald, Albreht Durer, Botticelli, Hieronymus Bosch, Robert Fludd, William Blake, Francois Millet, J.M.W.Turner, Gustav Dore, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gaugin, Odilon Redon, Monet, Klimt, Georgia O’Keefe, the Canadian Seven, Tibetan Mystic Art, Mayan art, Folk art from India, Japan, Inuit, and others.