Hardcover, 300 pages
8.66 x 10.83 in.
22 x 27.5 cm.
Edition of 650
In Western Japan, a bottle of champagne is smashed against the hull of a massive bulk cargo vessel, its path charted along the arch of the northern hemisphere: We follow its gentle glide through the lilac calm of the Japanese outer islands; a waive at the lights of Busan, the South Korean city along its charted path; the frigidity of the Aleutian Islands; a circular motion to avoid a mid-ocean monster; and lastly a cruise into Portland past the forests and factories on the Columbia River. On this maiden voyage across the Pacific, the vessel’s holds sit empty. One is in ballast to strengthen against heavy storms. A crew of twenty, plus four creative wanderers—including artist Cole Sternberg, who wrangled the quartet especially for this journey—anxiously steady themselves for weeks under swaying ground. It is within the context of this floating island that the work comprised of “The Nature of Breathing in Salt” emerges.
We find rainbows confronted by fluorescent hallways, black clouds fighting the setting sun, Sternberg’s paintings dragged in the sea, the glory of the unknown and unwelcoming greeting of the land. The imagery shifts in a bell curve of pleasant anxiety, mirrored by a narrative of Melville, Sternberg’s poetry and the dialogue of the crew. It is an experience that leaves one yearning for and sick of the sea. It is an art object more than just a book.
Sternberg’s practice of using the environment to tell its own story is apparent here. His practice ultimately results in the paintings and photography featured throughout this book. Works from this body of imagery have been exhibited extensively, and are in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the El Segundo Museum of Art, among others.
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In the limited-edition book, Sternberg tells the story of his journey in an elegant barrage of pictures, words, film stills, and paintings.
A collector’s edition features a hand-numbered and signed Sternberg print, signifying the embarking moment of the journey.
Hardcover, 300 pages
8.66 x 10.83 in.
22 x 27.5 cm.
Edition of 650
In Western Japan, a bottle of champagne is smashed against the hull of a massive bulk cargo vessel, its path charted along the arch of the northern hemisphere: We follow its gentle glide through the lilac calm of the Japanese outer islands; a waive at the lights of Busan, the South Korean city along its charted path; the frigidity of the Aleutian Islands; a circular motion to avoid a mid-ocean monster; and lastly a cruise into Portland past the forests and factories on the Columbia River. On this maiden voyage across the Pacific, the vessel’s holds sit empty. One is in ballast to strengthen against heavy storms. A crew of twenty, plus four creative wanderers—including artist Cole Sternberg, who wrangled the quartet especially for this journey—anxiously steady themselves for weeks under swaying ground. It is within the context of this floating island that the work comprised of “The Nature of Breathing in Salt” emerges.
We find rainbows confronted by fluorescent hallways, black clouds fighting the setting sun, Sternberg’s paintings dragged in the sea, the glory of the unknown and unwelcoming greeting of the land. The imagery shifts in a bell curve of pleasant anxiety, mirrored by a narrative of Melville, Sternberg’s poetry and the dialogue of the crew. It is an experience that leaves one yearning for and sick of the sea. It is an art object more than just a book.
Sternberg’s practice of using the environment to tell its own story is apparent here. His practice ultimately results in the paintings and photography featured throughout this book. Works from this body of imagery have been exhibited extensively, and are in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the El Segundo Museum of Art, among others.
+++
In the limited-edition book, Sternberg tells the story of his journey in an elegant barrage of pictures, words, film stills, and paintings.
A collector’s edition features a hand-numbered and signed Sternberg print, signifying the embarking moment of the journey.
Collector’s Edition: Edition of 100 (including signed print): $250
Print details:
Title: a loss of breath at the anticipatory moment
Edition: 100, signed and numbered by the artist
Size: 25.5 cm x 20 cm (paper), 22.8 cm x 17.9 cm (image)
Materials: Pigment print on archival photo rag paper
Each print is removably-mounted into book
Artist Cole Sternberg’s elegant portfolio of 11 prints, each individually titled, numbered and signed by the Artist in graphite on verso and presented in a custom archival clamshell.
The edition is of 50 and each print is 13”x19”.
These works are featured in Sternberg’s exhibition FREESTATE at ESMoA.
Hardcover, 188 pages
8 x 10 in. | 20.3 x 25.4 cm.
This is a reissue of John Muir’s beloved adventure in the Sierra, re-visualized by artist Cole Sternberg in an effort to question, encourage, and inspire naturalists of our times.
Considered one of the patron saints of 20th-century environmental activity, John Muir’s appeal to modern readers is that he not only explored the American West but also fought for its preservation. My First Summer in the Sierra is Muir’s account of his adventures and observations while working as a shepherd in the Yosemite Valley, which, as a direct result of Muir’s writings and activism, later became Yosemite National Park. Muir’s heartfelt and often humorous descriptions of his first summer spent in the Sierra will captivate and inspire long-time fans and novice naturalists alike.
This version, however, imagines something grander via artist Cole Sternberg’s re-visualization and design. As Percival Everett notes in his timely introduction : “What the images here do is suggest the complicated formation, not of the geology and topography, but of concept. What the Sierra contains within its boundaries is a statement not only about the physical beauty of North America, but an accounting of how this nation wants and chooses to see itself. The work in this book is not only a portrait of a place, but a portrait of us.”
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The limited edition format includes a Cole Sternberg signed-and-numbered print, entitled "lace-like sheets and braided overfolding currents" (pictured last). The work is printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching paper and limited to an edition of 100. It is a rare opportunity to collect the actual artwork featured in the book.
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John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States, and founder of The Sierra Club. His letters, essays, and books of his adventures in nature have been read by millions.
Cole Sternberg is a conceptual artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. His practice contemplates humanity’s existential quandary: that of being hopelessly destructive, yet forever and inevitably linked with nature. Through varied media (including painting, sculpture, installation, performance, photography, film, and writing), Sternberg positions the aspirations of humankind against the dominant and regenerative forces of the environment and the arbitration of time. For the artist, the conclusion is unavoidable. Human enterprises—art, language, history, law, and republic—are ephemeral / illusory endeavors that attempt to reflect, parallel, and challenge the ascendency of nature to no avail.
Percival Everett is a novelist, poet, and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Published by Hat & Beard Press
Designed by Cole Sternberg
Introduction by Percival Everett
Hardcover, 188 pages
8 x 10 in. | 20.3 x 25.4 cm.
This is a reissue of John Muir’s beloved adventure in the Sierra, re-visualized by artist Cole Sternberg in an effort to question, encourage, and inspire naturalists of our times.
Considered one of the patron saints of 20th-century environmental activity, John Muir’s appeal to modern readers is that he not only explored the American West but also fought for its preservation. My First Summer in the Sierra is Muir’s account of his adventures and observations while working as a shepherd in the Yosemite Valley, which, as a direct result of Muir’s writings and activism, later became Yosemite National Park. Muir’s heartfelt and often humorous descriptions of his first summer spent in the Sierra will captivate and inspire long-time fans and novice naturalists alike.
This version, however, imagines something grander via artist Cole Sternberg’s re-visualization and design. As Percival Everett notes in his timely introduction : “What the images here do is suggest the complicated formation, not of the geology and topography, but of concept. What the Sierra contains within its boundaries is a statement not only about the physical beauty of North America, but an accounting of how this nation wants and chooses to see itself. The work in this book is not only a portrait of a place, but a portrait of us.”
————
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States, and founder of The Sierra Club. His letters, essays, and books of his adventures in nature have been read by millions.
Cole Sternberg is a conceptual artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. His practice contemplates humanity’s existential quandary: that of being hopelessly destructive, yet forever and inevitably linked with nature. Through varied media (including painting, sculpture, installation, performance, photography, film, and writing), Sternberg positions the aspirations of humankind against the dominant and regenerative forces of the environment and the arbitration of time. For the artist, the conclusion is unavoidable. Human enterprises—art, language, history, law, and republic—are ephemeral / illusory endeavors that attempt to reflect, parallel, and challenge the ascendency of nature to no avail.
Percival Everett is a novelist, poet, and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
Published by Hat & Beard Press
Designed by Cole Sternberg
Introduction by Percival Everett
This is Sternberg’s alternative possibility for a nation’s constitution. This Constitution was first exhibited in Freestate and discussed in Sternberg’s Ted Talk on the same subject. At 3.5” x 5” it is the size of a US passport, so you can carry it with you, ready to hold it high in protest at anytime. For a downloadable free version with explanations click here.
Published on occasion of the exhibition of the same name at MAMA Berlin, this book features all the works of the exhibition and an essay by the artist.
Year: 2016
Paperback: 68 pages
Publisher: MAMA
Dimensions: 9 × 6 x 0.5 in
Published on occasion of the exhibition of the same name at LAXART with Woven, this book features all the works of the exhibition as they were created in situ across Los Angeles each accompanied by a poem by the artist.
Year: 2016
Paperback: 48 pages
Publisher: LA><ART
Dimensions: 7.75 × 6.75 x 0.33
Published on occasion of the exhibition of the same name, this book features all the works of the exhibition and a critical essay by Shana Beth Mason.
Year: 2013
Paperback: 34 pages
Publisher: David B. Smith Gallery
ISBN: 978-0-9857418-4-6
Dimensions: 10 x 7.25 x 0.25
Published on occasion of the exhibition of the same name at the American University Museum, this book features all the works of the exhibition, including elaborate multi-foldout elements.
Year: 2009
Hardcover: 77 pages
Publisher: Western Canon
ISBN: 978-0-9818798-1-9
Dimensions: 12.25 × 11.75 x 0.6 in
publications /shop
Cole Sternberg Paintings, chronicles the progression of Sternberg's work from 2002-2008. “From the old works to the new, Cole Sternberg’s paintings are ...a potent urban commentary reflecting on environmental expansiveness, civic folly and egocentric culture.” - Peter Mays in the book’s prologue.
Year: 2008
Hardcover: 162 pages
Publisher: Western Canon
ISBN: 978-0-0981879802
Dimensions: 12.25 × 9.25 x 0.5 in