Aaron T Stephan (born in 1974) is an American artist based in Portland, Maine. His work includes sculpture, mixed media, performance, and installation art[1][2] has been featured at a number of exhibitions, collections, and festivals.[3]
Aaron T Stephan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1974 (age 49–50) |
| Occupation | Artist |
| Website | aarontstephan |
Early life and education
editStephan was born in Springville, New York in 1974.[4] He holds a BFA from the State University of New York at Purchase (1996) and an MFA from Maine College of Art (2002).[5] He also studied at Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, State University of New York at New Paltz, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.[5]
Career and work
editStephan's work uses humor and wit to look at everyday objects "not as metaphors...but [as] facts."[6][7][8][9] In 2008, as artist-in-residence at Kohler's Arts/Industry program in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Stephan created the cast iron Flat World/Round Map. It is a reproduction of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion map but rounded rather than flat.[10] In 2017, during a residency with Locust Projects in Miami, Florida, he made hundreds of cement blocks from scratch, then built a life-sized cement block house from plans found in a 1909 Sears and Roebuck catalog. This exhibit was called Cement Houses and How to Build Them.[11][12] A 2019 work, Intermediate Submittal, shows the house reproduced as a scale model.[13] Stephan has also completed residencies at Yaddo and Edenfred.[5]
Art-World iconography[clarification needed] also appears in several of Stephan's works, including Second-hand Utopias (2014) in DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.[14] It consists of four iconic 20th century sculptures by artists such as Donald Judd, Robert Smithson, and Vladamir Tatlin.[15][16] Similarly, the Untitled Monument series (2020) at Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine consists of cyanotype blueprints depicting failed real-life monuments. Among these are a toppling statue of Vladimir Lenin and the Stonewall Jackson Monument hanging mid-air by a removal crane.[3] Other artwork includes his 2007 Building Houses and Hiding Under Rocks, where Stephan used over 40,000 books to make a square structure with doorway on one side.[17] While the exterior looks like stacks of books, the interior is carved to look like stone blocks.[18]
Stephan has collaborated with life-partner Lauren Fensterstock on multiple projects, including a series of performance dinner parties.[19] In 2016, they teamed up with Portland chef Masa Miyake for a dinner-themed 9-night production titled Inside, Outside, Above, Below and combined cooking, eating, architecture, live building, live music, and video.[20]
Selected works
editSolo exhibitions
edit- 2003: Weighing My Options, Space Gallery (Portland, Maine)
- 2007: The Problem with Ladders, Whitney Artworks (Portland, Maine)
- 2008: Building Houses/Hiding Under Rocks, Quint Contemporary Art (La Jolla, California)
- 2009: Vessels Absent, University of Maine Museum of Art (Bangor, Maine)
- 2011: Corporeal, Aucocisco Gallery (Portland, Maine)
- 2013: Second-Hand Utopias, DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, Massachusetts)
- 2014: To Borrow, Cut, Copy and Steal, Portland Museum of Art (Portland, Maine)[21]
- 2016: Book/House, Quint Contemporary Art (Ja Jolla, California)
- 2017: Cement Houses and How to Build Them, Locust Projects (Miami, Florida)
- 2021: Untitled Monuments, Dowling Walsh Gallery (Rockland, Maine)
Group exhibitions
edit- 2003: Portland Biennial, Portland Museum of Art (Portland, Maine)
- 2004: Home, DUMBO Art Center (Brooklyn, New York)
- 2006: CMCA Biennial Exhibition, Center for Maine Contemporary Art (Rockland, Maine)
- 2008: The Moment at Hand, John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)
- 2009: Three Decades of Contemporary Art, California Center for the Arts (Escondido, California)
- 2010: 4 In Maine, Farnsworth Art Museum (Rockland, Maine)
- 2012: Portes, Mytilene Public Gallery (Mytilene, Greece)
- 2015: Me, Mona and Mao, Portland Museum of Art (Portland, Maine)
- 2015: Pulse NY Art Fair, Sienna Gallery (New York City, New York)
- 2018: Land-Sc(r)aping, Living Arts (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
- 2019: 10,000 Hours +, Speedwell Projects (Portland, Maine)
- 2020: Cyanotypes, Cove Street Arts (Portland, Maine)
Performances/events
edit- 2006: Aaron T Stephan Is a Hack, Institute of Contemporary Art (Portland, Maine)
- 2011: Another Evening of BS with Aaron T Stephan, Space Gallery (Portland, Maine)
- 2014: Substance, a series of culinary events at the artist's home (Portland, Maine)
- 2015: Inside, Outside, Above, Below, Thompson's Point (Portland, Maine)[22]
- 2018: Oyster/Block (Athens, Georgia)
- 2019: Point of Failure (Portland, Maine)
Permanent commissions
edit- 2009: Intersect, Armstrong–Jackman Border Crossing (Jackman, Maine)
- 2011: Paths Open, Jefferson Village School (Jefferson, Maine)
- 2013: Paths Crossed, Wishard Hospital (Indianapolis, Indiana)[23]
- 2015: Variations, Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas)
- 2016: Gold Pour, RTD Gold Strike Station (Arvada, Colorado)
- 2016: Point of View, Salt Palace Convention Center (Salt Lake City, Utah)[24][25]
- 2018: Paths Woven, San Diego International Airport (San Diego, California)[26]
- 2019: Luminous Arbor, City of Portland, Maine (Portland, Maine)
- 2020: Luminous Remembrance, Lubbock Tornado Memorial (Lubbock, Texas)
- 2021: Woven Lines (Altoona, Iowa)
- 2021: Paths Rising, Tampa International Airport (Tampa, Florida)
- 2021: Luminous Bound, Montana RTS Far East Transfer Center (El Paso, Texas)
References
edit- ^ "Aaron Stephan: About the Artist". Maine Arts Commission. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ Koenig, Paul (18 August 2021). "The Portland Artist Creating Dialogue with Everyday Objects". The Maine Mag. The Maine Magazine. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ a b Gural, Natasha. "Aaron T Stephan's Colossal Sculpture And Intricate Cyanotypes Compel Us To Confront Current Events And History". Forbes. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum presents Platform 12 "Aaron Stephan: Secondhand Utopias"". Art Daily. 2013. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
- ^ a b c "Aaron T. Stephan". Cove Street Arts. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ Thompson, Jamie (2015-06-09). "To Borrow, Cut, Copy, and Steal: Aaron T Stephan Laughs with Us". ArtScope. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
- ^ "Aaron T. Stephan". Dowling Walsh. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ Keyes, Bob (September 2014). "Stephan Encourages Viewers to Think Outside the Museum". Portland Press Herald.
- ^ May, Jessica (2014). "To Borrow, Cut, Copy, and Steal". Portland Museum of Art.
- ^ Richardson, Steven. "Aaron T. Stephan". Seeing is Knowing: The Universe. Carleton. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
- ^ Locust Projects: The 20th Anniversary Retrospective. Miami, Florida, US: Tra Publishing. 2018. ISBN 978-1-7322978-1-4.
- ^ "Aaron T Stephan: Cement Houses and How to Build Them". Locust Projects. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "August exhibits times three at Dowling". Village Soup. Knox County VillageSoup. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ McQuaid, Kate (August 2013). "Platforms for Amusement". Boston Globe.
- ^ McQuaid, Cate. "Cheeky installations bring deCordova to life". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ "Arts and Culture Tips — What Will Light Your Fire This Week". Arts Fuse. 2013-07-11. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
- ^ Pincus, Robert L. (January 2008). "The Information Age". San Diego Union-Tribune.
- ^ "AARON T STEPHAN - BUILDING HOUSES/HIDING UNDER ROCKS". Quint Gallery. Quint Contemporary Art. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ Falzano, Rebecca (7 November 2016). "Building Stories". Old Port. Maine Magazine. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
- ^ Goldstein, Darra; May, Jessica; Conover, Roger (2015). "Inside, Outside, Above, Below".
- ^ Bergeron, Mariah "Critique the Hand that Feeds You". Portland Phoenix, October 2014
- ^ Papagni, Chris "Inside, Outside, Above, Below at Thompson's Point". Portland Phoenix, October 2015
- ^ Landro, Laura "More Hospitals Buy Into the Healing Powers of Public Art ". Wall Street Journal, August 2014
- ^ Stilson, Ashley "Near or Far: New Salt Lake Art Piece Creates Unity from Contradictions". Deseret News, August 2016
- ^ Mazurek, Anna "4 Art Road Trips to Take this Fall Across the U.S.". Washington Post, October 2020
- ^ Keyes, Bob "Sculptor's Piece Says Welcome - With a Twist". Portland Press Herald, March 2018