'a floating island (2015-2023)' debuts with Verse in London

a floating island (2015-2023)

by Cole Sternberg

Debuting online and physically April 4th in the exhibition (Probably) All in My Mind at Verse

A floating island took us across the Pacific. Twenty-two days at sea. On a sunny day, between the storms, the ocean recomposed a painting and we were off.

This body of work photographically chronicles that journey. Each image was shot while crossing the Ocean on an ultra-bulk cargo vessel’s maiden voyage from the shipyard in Western Japan to the U.S in 2015, using a Canon 35mm camera from the 70s. They are a frozen moment in time without grounding in a time. They are the macro of the sea and the micro of our floating home, unencumbered by the trappings of the outside world.

On the fourth day of this journey, I threw a painting in the Ocean and let it surf the wake. This singular action and resultant composition led me down an eight year path of environmental exposure, culminating in the painterly component of these works. The painterly elements of a floating island were physically made in the manner of that initial piece. They are painted layers of acrylic and watercolor on raw linen, left to the water to recompose themselves, each surfing its own wake. They are their own translation of the environment in and of themselves.

Each work is collaged purposefully for visual composition and storylines. Every work of a floating island embraces its own singular unique photograph and painting and hence are constrained by the limited volume of the physical series of paintings and photographic imagery. It is a finite eight years of creation culminating herein.

a floating island should make one wonder of scale, of irrational human hubris and of the ability of the earth to recompose itself. It is both hopeful and dire, inspirational and fearsome, endless and entrapping.

(Probably) All in the Mind 

Can wandering in daydreams lead to something more?

Since the concept of the subconscious first entered our lexicon at the turn of the 20th century, artists have been fascinated with expanding the way we represent the mind. We now know that our thoughts don’t occur linearly, but quite the opposite: observations of the present are accompanied by memories, hopes, tangents, and daydreams.

(Probably) All in the Mind explores and celebrates the human mind's tendency to wander, and to lead to new and unexpected ideas and insights. Through the showcased works, we acknowledge that wandering is not a distraction or a hindrance to productivity, but a source of unrestricted creativity. Harnessing the powers of the digital medium and code, the featured artists craft expansive vistas that challenge traditional notions of how we view and experience the world. Rather than focusing on the final outcome, they revel in the gray area between focus and getting lost in thought.

This kind of practice, which values the experience of wandering, leads to incredible outcomes that are often abstract or representational. The mind finds one thing and then latches onto the next, finding beauty and meaning in the seemingly random.

The exhibition is a presentation of new works by (in order of schedule):
Cole Sternberg, LoVid, M.J. Lindow, Krankarta, lunarean, Ivona Tau, Matt Perkins and Sabato Visconti.