Stephen Kasner: WORKS 1993-2006
Stephen Kasner: WORKS 1993-2006 – Paperbound $29.95 + S/H
Stephen Kasner: WORKS 1993-2006 – Clothbound $39.95 + S/H
| Stephen Kasner Works 1993-2006 by Stephen Kasner Foreword by Dwid Hellion Introduction by Douglas Max Utter 160 pgs. 10.5″x10.5″ Master Edition | $300.00 | NO ISBN | 50 copies Slipcased Edition | $125.00 | NO ISBN | 200 copies Clothbound | $39.95 | ISBN: 0-9764035-5-2 Paperbound | $29.95 | ISBN: 0-9764035-6-0 |
About the Book
Stephen Kasner: WORKS 1993-2006 is an extensive compendium of the paintings, drawings, photographs and prints of a contemporary artist whose symbols translate into a stellar vocabulary depicting strife of the human animal against the austerity of nature. Covering thirteen years of artistic development and exploration, Stephen Kasner: WORKS offers a comprehensive collection of Kasner’s organic depictions of figures and animals, birds and flowers, landscapes and interiors, co-mingling in bursts of self-discovery. Dreamlike and vast, these vistas interpret human emotion and psychological struggle in tandem with the harshness of nature and how combinations of delights and disasters affect our personalities, striving toward relief and a yearning for euphoria. Working primarily in oil on canvas and paper, the works compiled in this thirteen year retrospective cover Kasner’s sketches, studies, figurative works, full-scale works, photography and printmaking, the latter of which lies predominantly unexhibited and unpublished to date. Stephen Kasner: WORKS is a comprehensive look at the paintings and images of ethereal works in flux, ever pulsating and growing. Included are texts and quotes by a stunning array of individuals, both at the forefront and underbelly of literary and art worlds. The book also chronicles Kasner’s extensive group of music-related art, having collaborated with numerous bands worldwide, interpreting their sounds into images.
About the Artist
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio against a backdrop of gray, undulating skies, frozen winters and a tapestried shadow of Lake Erie, Stephen Kasner’s paintings, drawings and photographs reflect visions of a pre/post-apocalyptic industrial landscape and the struggle for survival contained in dreams of enlightenment. Currently residing in California, Kasner’s paintings continue to expand upon the human versus nature. His use of figures, objects, animals and flowers translate into symbols of determination of inner, personal cosmos.
Stephen Kasner earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art, graduating in 1993. His work has been exhibited worldwide, including galleries and museums in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Germany and throughout Australia in the touring exhibition, “Visionary Art”. Kasner has been published extensively, including articles, interviews and reviews in The Washington Post, SECONDS Magazine and by the New York University Horror Society. He has created artwork and designs for a notable amount of bands and record labels as well as contributing editorial illustrations to numerous publications internationally.
Editions
Master Edition | $300.00 | NO ISBN | 50 copies
Slipcased Edition | $125.00 | NO ISBN | 200 copies
Clothbound | $39.95 | ISBN: 0-9764035-6-0
Paperbound | $29.95 | ISBN: 0-9764035-6-0
Ordering
Stephen Kasner: WORKS 1993-2006 – Paperbound $29.95 + S/H
Stephen Kasner: WORKS 1993-2006 – Clothbound $39.95 + S/H
Reviews
“Engaging. Unassuming. Forthright. Not qualities you would readily associate with a purveyor of what many folks perceive as disturbing, grim and nightmarish images. This is perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Stephen Kasner. Like his spectacular works, Kasner himself possesses unplumbed depths and is full of sensory surprises. Thus, the artistry of Stephen Kasner supersedes his astounding ability to create intriguing and mysterious works on canvas. Stephen, with his unprecedented charm and warmth, has also mastered the realm of real life, a feat most of his brush-wielding contemporaries have not yet begun to achieve.
I count among my many blessings having met this fine fellow when he was still a fledgling artist and having had the singularly satisfying experience of watching him expand his personal vision and take root in the public consciousness. For me, Stephen is a monumental inspiration. His intense passion and devotion to his craft are prime examples of what makes man’s creative spirit the only truly divine element in this otherwise unpromising sphere of existence.”
- Nick Bougas
Sample Images
Excerpt
-Introduction to Collaborations by Stephen Kasner-
Early in 2006, while preparing for a split exhibition with David D’Andrea in San Francisco, we decided that we should attempt to produce a collaborative silkscreen poster to commemorate the event. For this, however, we decided to go about it a rather unique way. Most collaborations begin with actual, physical pieces of artwork that go back and forth between the participants, each having the opportunity to view, think and study on the marks, textures, colors, images and ideas of the other. David and I decided on nothing as a means of projecting our thoughts. Each of us worked on drawings that we thought the other would appreciate and communicate with, all the while never showing our work to one another until they were complete. Throughout the fog of this vague process, and once joining our pieces together to create the poster, we were both delighted with the outcome. Despite the variance in our attack styles, these two works folded together with a delicate and easy magic.
It was through this, and during our exhibition at SPACE Gallery, where we decided to continue our collaborative process. From here on in, however, we would create physical works handed back and forth to one another, in a more traditional manner.
I was so intrigued and excited about the possibilities of this process, I began to express the idea among several of my most cherished artist friends, of whom I have admired and have been fortunate enough to know personally, for lengths of time ranging from a couple months, to many years. Each met my collaboration idea with excitement and gusto, and it was beyond thrilling to continuously send and receive various pieces of art, for months on end, to and from such a wide variety of artistic masters- each coming in with their own energy and persona, and sending them back out with an attempt at capturing a sense of my own spirit. We did this again and again. Lines began to become blurred at places. Each piece carried such individual strength and there were moments where one felt like babysitting a friend’s child. It was beautiful.
There was one exception to the mailed collaboration system in this series. Steven Johnson Leyba and I caught the opportunity to actually sit with one another in the process of these collaborations. We spent several days enjoying each other’s company, discussing the process and watching one another work. It was exhilarating, exciting, and a very different and unique way for me to work. I tended to concentrate on large washes of shapes and form, while Leyba delicately attended to minute details, the likes of which I would have never conceived.
Every artist presented here brought new, stirring and personal challenges to these pieces, each with his own way of working; Seldon Hunt’s meticulous, brooding lines, Steven Cerio’s childlike, psychedelic freedom, David D’Andrea’s apocalyptic visions and Steven Leyba’s quests for perpetual enlightenment…
I am continuously honored to be a part of them all.
