Excited to share a couple nice articles, Elle Magazine visiting with me during my exhibition at Yeo Workshop in Singapore and a great summation of my exhibition at Praz Delavallade in LA from Autre.
ELLE - MEET THE ARTIST: COLE STERNBERG
The California-based conceptual artist Cole Sternberg has exhibited in Singapore before. But this is the first time that he is holding a solo show here in Asia. Held in Yeo Workshop, the show entitled to join the larger raindrop of the ocean, features 11 of his linen canvases, some taking up almost an entire wall, others more modestly sized, that play with man’s relationship with nature.
Environmentally exposed to various degrees — some even bear the holes that Sternberg used to pull these paintings through different bodies of water, primarily the Pacific Ocean — these are the fruits of a grander environmental experiment that he has been carrying out for over five years. According to Yeo Workshop’s press release, “The title of the show to join the larger raindrop of the ocean, alludes to the piercings marked on several paintings in the show — a feature that is novel to Sternberg’s paintings.”
While he has sometimes hidden these piercings in the past, when exposed to the viewer, they are not just a part of the final product, but allude to where the paintings have been and in a sense, what they have been through to achieve their final form. Says the press release, “They form visual references to ripples of the ocean and fractures of light, gesturing at the destructive and regenerative forces of nature that Sternberg has allowed to intervene and determine the works. These canvases have been exposed to winds, storms and dragged in large bodies of water, simultaneously composed and redacted by earth.”
The result are works that in some instances look almost like a nature’s tie dye, with a richness, depth and dimension that could not be achieved simply from painting in the studio. As one might expect, the works look and feel like they have been touched by a hand beyond the human kind, and even the colour palette — determined before the painting is created by the artist, invites a kind of uncertainty as to what the final result might be. Call it the ultimate experiment in nature versus nurture. They are also outstandingly beautiful paintings that one can enjoy even on the surface, non-conceptual level.
The show also features a 2018 film are the green fields gone? that Sternberg filmed while aboard a cargo vessel that sailed Pacific Ocean in 2015. It is no wonder that the artists bears a fascination with the ocean. He sees these vast bodies of water as the truth — the beginning and end of the world — for it in these vast horizons that he can contemplate the smallness of humanity. Time and again he returns to these themes surrounding “the aspirations of humankind against the dominant and regenerative forces of the environment and the arbitration of time.” We spoke to Sternberg via email to find out more about this current show, as well as his upcoming projects, including his soon-to-be foray in to NFTs.
The new show with Yeo Workshop is your first solo show here in Singapore. What was the creative and curation process like, and the effect on your final work?
‘to join the larger raindrop of the ocean’ is a show that on a meta-level asks viewers what our place is within the environment of the earth. It is the first time I’ve exhibited paintings with holes perforating the face of the linen. These holes represent both humankind in totality and individuals in singularity; they feel like a glimpse into the unknown.
Meanwhile, all the works in the show form a specific community of my environmentally-exposed paintings, together they’re meant to take the viewer from the deep sea to high in the clouds. In terms of the curation, it is always tricky from afar, but between building scale models in the studio and video calls, it was possible to build the show fairly seamlessly.
Cole Sternberg’s their silence was audible, 2021. Mixed media on linen. 34 x 28 inches. Courtesy of Yeo Workshop.
How have you refined your process over the years, and what results and discoveries has that led to?
Over the years, twenty now that I’ve been painting ‘professionally’, my process is always refining upon itself and reacting to the times. For these works, I’ve learned how to act as a better partner with the earth in composing them. This means anticipating how different colours and mediums interact and react when exposed to the environment – being left in the rain, blowing in the wind, dragging in the sea. With each new work my knowledge grows a bit, so I always seem to think that the most recent painting is the most thoughtful and refined.
Is there a right way to appreciate your current show? What do you hope the audience will get out of it?
I hope the audience thinks of how water moves and how physical existences are erased and find both inspiration and concern in that.
What new projects and concepts are you working on for upcoming shows?
I have a wide variety of projects in the works, but generally I’m working a few bodies of work that take erasure of the human hand in different directions, including a few new manners of making paintings, photography and digital works.
Do you have plans to work in the NFT sphere? As a conceptual artist, what are your thoughts on the untapped possibilities of the medium?
I’m deeply involved in the creation truly generative art that can exist solely on a blockchain. I think this is the purest manner to address NFTs as it embraces the technology’s potential and isn’t just a digital reproduction of a physical form. This requires a lot of learning on my part as I don’t come from a coding background, but I’m very excited with the results. My first collection will be released in the near future.
How has the pandemic changed your practice, at all, especially in relation to both being based in Santa Ynez more permanently, and also looking at the central premise of your work — contemplating humanity’s existential quandary? Has this affected your outlook, your mindset — and therefore the work you do?
I think the pandemic has affected me personally, I’m certainly more emotional than I was in the past. It is hard not to get emotional when hearing the news. We have also spent a lot more time living a rural existence, as the benefits of city life disappeared during the pandemic.
The pandemic has also solidified many of my thoughts about sustainability, community-building, governmental strains and the importance of art. For example, it was troubling to see how little the Californian government cared about museums and galleries while fighting to keep nail salons open. It was hopeful to see the rejuvenation of the earth when everyone stopped driving. It was scary to see how even in a global pandemic national powers could not coalesce for the betterment of humanity.
Cole Sternberg’s show ‘to join the larger raindrop of the ocean’ will be held at Yeo Workshop from now till 1 May 2022.
text by Stella Peacock-Berardini
Cole Sternberg scratches against the cheek of humanity, inviting the ideals of people in, while simultaneously belittling or questioning our existence, present and future. Sternberg's work provides a sort of kaleidoscopic effect veiling over images or winding paths and curves throughout the works, almost as if to represent the blurred lines and alternative routes our future plays as we grow in our society. It is not quite misanthropic, but provides skeptic views around human life itself, in examples such as the titles, but what may we say ourselves and the flock?, and questions he proposes in other pieces.
Within this show, he provides a distinct visual of how little we, as humans, really are, in which these curves of nature stand taller and stronger then we have been for centuries. We idolize these monuments throughout earth, while we simultaneously destroy them. This ironic analysis of nature's play within the avaricious mindset of the world today provides a start into deeper queries or fascination with the environment, especially considering current climate change worries. It proposes this idea, what if nature fought back, what if it already is?
In, by reason of the high hills, the long green hills and thick wilderness juxtapose the wet, layered rocks that compete with the humans attention, the rocky wetlands win that battle, as the people consume nature's beautiful curves and ridges. The hard surfaces and towering landscapes devour the humans in, who stand miniscule compared to the surrounding land, enthralled by the natural entertainment of water rushing past, and the breeze through the rugged trees. A milky storm blue encloses this piece, as a film between the lives of the humans in the work, and the enjoyers of this piece.
As the audience, we interrupt this moment between a family and the vast wilderness, becoming a part of the phenomenon once again, fascinated by the view we have been seduced by, unaware of our effect on the future of this landscape, or ignorant of our effects at the very least. The meandering and complex lines or curves in this show as well, which shape the pieces with its x-ray appearing layer in parts of the work, summons you in deeper, unsure if we are staring at a birds eye view of a lengthy canyon or the grips of a pterodactyls claws.
The abstraction of the images provided in this show, allows Sternberg to reference and evolve common ideals and values of our cultural identity. It provides a memory you may relate with, or find yourself creating fictitious familial trips, yet also questioning the consciousness of people, and our ability to reflect on the intersectionality between the industrialization of the world, and the earth we have molded to our needs, for better or worse. How or will we depart from the trends of destruction we became attuned too? Sternberg pleases the eye with this work, and positively disrupts the human mind with fears we wish to avoid.
Departed for the curve will be on view until July 30, 2022 at Praz Delavallade.