COLE STERNBERG | the blue water was only a heavier and darker air

COLE STERNBERG

COLE S T E RNBE RG

the blue water was only a heavier and darker air

the blue water was only a heavier and darker air For the last several years, Cole Sternberg has been using painting to explore the intersection of the elements. With a rich body of work that covers the expanse of not only painting, but also installation, video, photography, and text, the Los Angeles-based artist is no stranger to multimedia endeavors. His intricately textured paintings, however, enlists a peculiar process worthy of special attention.

Sternberg begins his painting process by layering ink, acrylic, and other traditional painting materials on raw, unprimed linen. He then submerges the linen in a natural body of water, allowing the water to both weather away pigment and form its own marks on the surface. With this series, the paintings were dragged behind fishing boats and sailboats in freshwater lakes. Elsewhere, Sternberg fulfilled a lifelong dream of completing a naval voyage across the Pacific Ocean and created a number of works in the seawater. It would be misleading, however, to reduce the artist’s process to this simplified, formulaic approach. The compositions are not necessarily planned and this process of layering and submerging can repeat any number of times. Even the interim drying process between layering and submerging is subject to its own idiosyncrasies. The linen may be laid out flat, folded, or hung to dry, such that wind and gravity can influence the way pigmented materials shift as they dry on the wet linen. Whether this drying process takes place on deck, in grass, or in dirt can further influence the formation of marks on the linen.

Up until the works are shipped back to the artist’s studio and stretched into their final shape, the linen is consistently subjected to the somewhat random processes of nature and transport. With this revolving cycle of layering, submerging, dragging, weathering, hanging, bundling, and so forth, it is not entirely possible to distinguish the elemental marks from the artistic ones. The indistinguishable quality of the markings parallels the uncanny appearance of patterns in nature. Although the true state of nature is chaotic and disordered, the textures of nature can appear patterned and evoke a rhythmic quality. Still, no matter the harmonious appearance of a pasture or a lakebed, every blade of grass and every ripple of water is radically singular. In both the place that was nowhere, and that now time was not for us (2018) and at a certain depth the light came from below and the darkness from above (2018) Sternberg’s canvases immerse the viewer in this impossible balance of order and disorder.

Despite the absence of representational imagery, Sternberg’s environmental paintings are very much a part of a broader history of landscape and seascape painting, especially in the coastal California context.

Indeed, their very lack of iconography as well as their affinity for bodies of water warrants reference to celebrated California painter Joe Goode. In particular, Goode’s Ocean Blue series (1988)—a series of approximately three-dozen deep-blue paintings featuring Goode’s singularly evocative brushstrokes—offers a productive lens for considerations of Sternberg’s paintings. In her discussion of the Ocean Blue series, Kristine McKenna explains Goode’s intention was “to depict the sea from the point of view of someone

completely submerged in water.”1 The unrelenting density of Goode’s paintings as a result of his tight brushstrokes and intense pigment simulates a deep-sea perspective.

Sternberg’s paintings engage with the broader history of landscape and seascape painting by integrating painting practices with environmental art practices. In doing so, his paintings travel beyond representing or staging natural processes in a visual format. Rather than simulating nature, Sternberg creates his work with nature itself. The result is a total reconfiguration of perspective. Though Sternberg’s paintings have all been literally submerged in water, they resist a comparably static situation. The works’ situation in the interstitial spaces between land and sea or ocean and air, sometimes lifts into the clouds and beyond.

In upon occasion the dreams fought through (2018), we seem to be looking from within the throes of the clouds. Delicate patches of blue coexist with pink, gray, and the murky brown of the raw linen—the colors of sky, fog, flora, and earth. From within the clouds, we are given equal glimpses of the sky and the land.

In the largest gathering of his environmental paintings to date, a seeming exception to Sternberg’s typical palette of stormy grays, ocean blues, earthy greens, and floral hues emerges. the blue water was only a heavier and darker air (2018), from which the exhibition takes its title, appears to leave the terrestrial plane altogether. The painting features surprising washes of fuchsia, blue and purple. Perhaps these are cosmic forces, gaseous elements born from an eruption of celestial bodies. Sternberg points to “a heavier and darker air,” but the ever-present ripples of white from the weathering of the linen offsets both the weight and the darkness, while the striking fuchsia contributes a brightness that enlivens the weighty darkness of the surrounding areas of the painting.

Where are we when we look at these paintings? water or air? Earth or cosmos? Sternberg points us to the water and the air, but the air above all—the inaccessible plane that holds the forces of life as we know it, from the nourishing power of the sunlight that sustains us to the centralizing power of gravity that keeps us in orbit.

— Golzar Yousefi, April 2019

__________________________ 1

Kristine McKenna, Joe Goode: Paintings 1960–2016 (Los Angeles: Kohn Gallery, 2017), 134.

the wake in an upheaval of gems 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 110 x 76�

the foliage would brush their rigging at times 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 76 x 78�

we would enter a hut, and then always found we were welcome 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 40 x 34�

at a certain depth the light came from below and the darkness from above 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 76 x 78�

monumental moving barriers 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 110 x 76�

as I could not see the coal in great bulk, I could not admire it 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 48 x 68�

another navigational strategy 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 36 x 30�

rotational moments guided by a sand bar 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 50 x 70�

the blue water was only a heavier and darker air 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 78 x 144�

the concrete floor of the cabin nearly became a wall 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 76 x 78�

they were amazed at their appearance, forgetting for a moment of the tides 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 50 x 70�

upon occasion the dreams fought through 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 78 x 84�

collective efforts 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 46 x 26�

lighthouse discussions of pending erosion 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 56 x 34�

the sea falling down her iron wall as far as the bilge 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 70 x 46�

with our hands in the air, in confusion or frustration or a sense of calm 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 74 x 61�

i moved about like an infant learning to walk 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 46 x 34�

sandbars under situational restraints 2018 Mixed Media on Linen 22 x 20�

CV / BIO Cole Sternberg was born in Richmond, Virginia. He lives and works in Los Angeles and practices in a range of formats including painting, installation, video, and writing. Series of his work have focused on a variety of social issues, from current human rights activism and its relationship to the law, to the environment, to the media and concepts of content overload. The works tend to be subtle or subvwersive in nature, driven by elegant visual concepts and poetry. He is interested in the intersection between humanity and humankind and how their lack of congruity hinders social progression and development.

Sternberg has exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the American University Museum (Washington, DC), El Segundo Museum of Art (El Segundo, CA), Hochhaus Hansa (a Ruhr.2010 Museum, Dortmund, Germany), There There (Los Angeles), Primary (Miami), David B. Smith Gallery (Denver), Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND, Los Angeles), Paris Photo (Los Angeles), Zona Maco (Mexico City), ArtBo (Bogota), Art Los Angeles Contemporary (ALAC), e105 Gallery (Berlin), LA><ART (Los Angeles), MAMA (Los Angeles & Berlin) and Praz Delavallade (Los Angeles) and There-There (Los Angeles).

His works are held by major collections throughout the world, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the PĂŠrez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the El Segundo Museum of Art (ESMoA), the American University Museum (AUM) and Deutsche Telekom. It has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Whitewall Magazine, Issue Magazine, Autre Magazine, Hercules, Denver Post, Miami New Times, LA Weekly, Art Ltd., Architectural Digest, Angeleno, Sleek, Metal Magazine, ArtNet and Huffington Post.

EDUCATION Villanova University, B.A. American Unibersity, Washington College of Law, J.D. AWARDS/ RESIDENCIES 2017 GSM Artz Acquisition Award, Zona Maco, Mexico City, Mexico Residency, e105 Gallery and Art Lab 21, Bonn/Berlin, Germany Residency, Center for Research and Creativity Casamarles, Llorenc del Penedes, Spain Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL PUBLICATIONS 2019 2017 2016 2013 2012 2010

2008

the nature of breathing in salt the windward side of the island for a moment it scraped then cooeld the skin, Chronicling the exhibition of the same name at LAXART all his strength was concentrated in his fists, including the very strength that held him upright, Chronicling the exhibition at David Smith Gallery Art Works, Chronicling the exhibition at Deutsche Telekom (Detecon) One on One, Hochhaus Hansa, Chronicling the exhibition at Hochhaus Hansa, Ruhr., Dortmund Germany And those who were dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music, Chronicling the exhibition of the same name at the American University Museum Cole Sternberg Paintings, Chronicling on canvas works from 2002-2008 PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

American University Museum of Art Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Deutsche Telekom El Segundo Museum of Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art Pérez Art Museum Miami The Plaza Hotel

EXHIBITIONS 2019 the blue water was only a heavier and darker air, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA the trees turned to shadows in a grey fog, There-There, Los Angeles, CA 2018 Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Peter Blake Gallery, Los Angeles, CA A Matter of Course, The Guggenhaim Gallery at Chapman University, Orange, CA As You Like It - C’est Comme Vous Voulez, Praz Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA 2017 the windward side of the island, MAMA, Berlin, Germany elsegundissimo, El Segundo Museum of Art, El Segundo, CA for a moment the concrete felt soft and warm, AiOP, New York, NY 2016 for a moment, it scraped, then cooled, the feet, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA Rob Pruitt’s Flea Market, Los Angeles Nomadic Division, Los Angeles, CA the nature of breathing in salt, MAMA, Los Angeles, CA Contextual Abstraction, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach CA 2015 are the green fields gone?, the high seas a moment near the sea, ARTed House + MAMA, East Hampton, NY 2014 Erection, MAMA, Los Angeles, CA International Friendship Exhibition, Primary, Miami, FL Home, El Segundo Museum of Art, El Segundo, CA 2013 Art Works, e105 Gallery, Berlin, Germany a moment in the sun, ARTed House, Wainscott, NY all his strength was concentrated in his fists, including the very strength that held him upright, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO you’ll miss your riding lesson tomorrow, Primary Projects, Caruso 2012 Art and Flaunt Magazine, Miami, FL Perpetual Conceptual: Echoes of Eugenia Butler, Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) and the Getty Museum’s Pacific Standard Time, Los Angeles, CA All in for the 99%, Ace Museum, Los Angeles, CA Salon de Notre Societe, Primary Projects, Miami, FL Deutsche Telekom (Detecon), Cologne, Germany Group Exhibition, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO Here Lies George Wildenstein, Primary Projects, Miami, FL 2011 I was here for just a moment, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO the content is bleeding through, Private Residence Installation Unveiling, Los Angeles, CA One on One, Hochhaus Hansa (Ruhr. 2010 Museum), Dortmund, Germany 2010 100 Artists See Satan, Grand Central Arts Center, California State University, Fullerton, Santa Ana, CA, Worship, e105 Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA Group Exhibition, David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO Transparenz, Detecon International GmbH (presented by e105 Gallery), Bonn, Germany and those who were dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music, American University Museum, 2009 Washington, DC New Works, Kinsey/ DesForeges, Culver City, CA Stained GLass + Nirvana, Fred Segal, Santa Monica, CA the breakup.down, symbolic nyc, New York City, NY Postcards from the Edge, Metro Pictures, New York City, NY You, Canvas, Malibu, CA

COLE ST ERN BERG 2018

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COLE STERNBERG | the blue water was only a heavier and darker air 1 1 M A R C H - 5 M AY 2 0 1 9 E S S AY : G O L Z A R YO U S E F I CATA LO G U E D E S I G N : M A R S H A Z H O N G C O P Y R I G H T : P E T E R B L A K E G A L L E RY