A Conversation with Cole Sternberg

JD

Dear Cole Sternberg, welcome to CAI. First and foremost, congratulations on thirsty while drowning. The exhibition consists of multiple site-specific installations across the university’s historic buildings and outdoor spaces. Could you talk us through how the exhibition came about and what it means for you personally as an alumnus of Villanova University?

CS

Thank you so much, Julien. The exhibition came about due to a few chats with the Director, Jennie Castillo. We had similar desires for the University’s newfound commitment to contemporary and conceptual art discussions. Meanwhile, as an alumnus, I was excited by the idea of coming home to the school to complete a circle of life—from painting tiny oil scenes in my dorm room to installing massive murals across campus. It felt like a very rewarding proposition to explore. 

JD

It is clear that your road toward artistry was not the traditional journey of an artist, encompassing art school or art education, before entering the art world. Here, at Villanova University, you studied business before achieving a Juris Doctor at American University. When did you realize you were destined to be an artist?

CS

I was always making art; drawing, painting, writing, … I just didn’t know how to pay my bills. There isn’t a significant amount of financial support for artists in the United States, so I thought I needed to get a paying job in the capitalist machine to keep a roof over my head. That led me (out of intellectual curiosity and that need) to study and practice law for a few years. With hindsight being 20/20, I’m really happy it went that way; the studies in other fields greatly enriched my practice. The knowledge base developed in those studies allows me to address conceptual structures more effectively. 

JD

The show is titled thirsty while drowning, a title that incites immediate interest, both for its irony in the form of dark humor and the confrontational character of a nascent and inconvenient truth. Could you expand on the title in question and your conceptual and/or activist mission with this show? 

CS

This title always makes me smile because of the dark comedic nature you eluded to. A title like thirsty while drowning effectively addresses the issue at hand, that of human ignorance of climate change paralleled with human interest in mass consumption, while also feeling welcoming in its silly play on words. It delivers this serious subject matter without a heavy-handed tone or sermon. My hope is that students would be intrigued by it and motivated to investigate further. 

JD

Why this mission, for this show, at this location?

CS

This mission should be applied everywhere all the time; we are approaching mass extinction due to climate change. All amplification is necessary, especially in the United States, where half the population thinks climate change isn’t caused by humans and nearly all the population wastes at epic levels. 

JD

It feels as if the notion of the Sublime—in the Romantic tradition of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) and Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), but also with Modern masters such as Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and Barnett Newman (1905-1970)—plays a vital role throughout the exhibition. Is the presence of the Sublime a premeditated strategy or a natural effect of the exhibition concept? 

CS

I hope the presence of the sublime comes with each work and across my practice. I desire to find something earthly, ethereal, and void of the human hand. So yes, that’s a premeditated strategy, but that pre-meditation also demands that human pre-meditation isn’t visually apparent. If that allows for a relationship to the romantic nature of Turner, Friedrich, Rothko, and Newman, then wow, that sounds ideal to me. 

JD

A series of contemporary plein-air paintings are on view in the newly renovated Villanova University Art Gallery. What was the conceptual foundation and process for this series of works? And how do these paintings relate to your painterly practice in general?

CS

These paintings are part of a process I’ve been exploring for the past seven years. Each work is exposed to the elements—left in wind, rain, and, most importantly, dragged through large bodies of water. This exposure to the elements takes away the human hand, erases, and recomposes, cumulatively adding the earthy patterning of the work. From my first exhibition, in a bar in Washington, DC, in 2003, until now, my practice has addressed the environment and the movement of water. This exhibition is a natural extension of that commentary. 

JD

The paintings are mixed media on linen—could you please elaborate on the mixed media?

CS

It’s funny, people are always interested in what ‘mixed media’ means, and I’m afraid it’s nothing too intriguing. Largely, in this case, ‘mixed media’ means watercolor, acrylic, and a bit of graphite. 

JD

As a multidisciplinary artist, is your methodology determined by the medium—or, as a conceptual artist, by the concept? Please run us through your artistic practice; what is your overall approach?

CS

For me, everything starts with the concept. Here, I wanted to address climate change in a manner that could intrigue students and push them toward the creative and social exploration of the theme; what style of murals could be compelling and get the point across elegantly? What could they discover in the exhibition that effectively speaks to the concept? How can the statement inspire positive action? Et cetera.

Other exhibitions become more complicated; for example, in Freestate at ESMoA, I wanted to show what a more enlightened nation could look like and how we could get there. To do that required visuals that presented a social movement as it happens—campaign signs, budgets, histories, a new constitution, as well as photography and sculpture that captured the idea of mass societal progression. Another project revolved entirely around Ray Johnson’s final performance piece as a metaphor for humanity merging with the earth, the media in that exhibition included painting, video, and performance to get the point across. 

Needless to say, I get caught up in the concept and go from there. My practice touches many disciplines and requires a large amount of research and concept-building before anything physically manifests. It is the nature of the beast or my obsession with continuing to learn and grow. 

JD

Whether you are tackling human rights issues, environmental issues, or whatever is troubling you in life, in your artistic practice, these issues are always veiled by beauty. Would you say beauty is the stepping stone to a deeper understanding of these issues? Do we look, think, or interact differently because of the presence of beauty? 

CS

I think beauty is present everywhere. It is essential and inescapable. I don’t think beauty is a veil in my work, but it is undoubtedly a path to more extensive discussions and analysis. I hope viewers are motivated by the beauty to explore what it means to exist and how one can honor and protect the beauty surrounding them. To answer the final part of your question, yes. 

JD

Arguably, this is precisely where socio-politically motivated conceptual art often fails. But on the other hand, your work also has a sense of hopelessness, as if we have already failed or are destined to fail no matter our efforts. A Schopenhauer-Esque conclusion, but the beauty keeps us going in the end. Does your art bring you reconciliation? 

CS

Hopelessness and beauty can co-exist, like comedy and sadness. As beauty exists everywhere, so do the individual feelings of insignificance or lack of hope. By recognizing this, one can find a path forward. I suppose the sense of hopelessness isn’t encompassing; it is simply a bump in the road. As long as you keep driving over those bumps, reconciliation is possible. 

JD

Thank you, Cole Sternberg, for this wonderful conversation and for bringing beauty to life’s ironic existential discords.