I'm very excited to announce that the first exhibition of the works from my sea journey is now open to the public at MAMA Gallery in Los Angeles. Below are some installation images and a nice description of the works. For more information on visiting the exhibition visit: www.mama.gallery

the nature of breathing in salt

QRB: What is your distance?

CS: My distance is a bit less than twenty meters to sea level; then another eight meters along the wake.

QRC: What is your true bearing?

CS: My true bearing is one hundred and sixty degrees to the horizon; not accounting for thirty degree rolls.

QRD: Where are you bound for?

CS: I am bound for a destination that continually changes; depending on the weather, fuel consumption and the charterer.

QRF: Where are you bound from?

CS: I am bound from an enclosed cabin, from the deck and from the water.

QRJ: How many words have you to send?

CS: I have many words to send in many formats.

QRG: What line do you belong to?

CS: I belong to the curved line of the horizon.

QRH: What is your wavelength?

CS: My wavelength is twelve meters.

Over the course of 22 days, Cole Sternberg braved the open sea aboard a liner ship bound from the Japanese port of Shin Kasado to Portland, Oregon. The ship carried no cargo, it merely tested its own endurance on the waters en route to its first shipment load-in. Sternberg arrived with linen, watercolor, graphite, ink, and a hearty crew of three enlisted to document the adventure.

On January 30, 2016, MAMA is proud to present Cole Sternberg’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, the nature of breathing in salt. The body of work in this exhibition was created while aboard the maiden voyage of the bulk shipping vessel, the Ultra Letizia.

Sternberg led a momentary sailor’s life composed of traversing the grand ship from hull to port and stern to bow, testing linen and paint to their limits in the unforgiving environmental conditions of the ocean’s world. A painting methodology of movement, memory, and observation, like the cogs that pushed the vessel full steam ahead. 1) paint, 2) submerge in water, and 3) leave the flag to fly in the wind and wait another day to see what remains of the original sign. This process was knotted within days spent steeped in nervous joy and disoriented bearings alongside men who spend half their lives at sea.

Sternberg’s body of work from the voyage aboard this massive vessel, the log books of his endeavor, find final mooring at MAMA Gallery. The paintings that once ebbed and waved now lay flat, like the horizon line, and are now the landmark of a geometry of perspective.

At sea, what intersects earth and sky? The navigation homeward is calculated through abstractions, circles, arcs, and angles. These paintings, like the crew of Ultra Letizia, hung on for dear life, on an adventure over another planet - the Pacific Ocean - propelled by the promise of the miracles of home.

* International Q Code interview with Cole Sternberg the nature of breathing in salt

** Text and Interview courtesy of MAMA Gallery

Installation Views