Upcoming Show: Synthetic Accretion

I’m excited to announce my new exhibition Synthetic Accretion. Synthetic Accretion will be a site—specific installation at Blackfish Gallery, and run from 09.03.25 – 09.27.25. Come by for the First Thursday opening on September 5!

In the synthetic transcendence of new materials, we have created substances which defy both the limits and safeguards of ecological necessity. Just as plastic once freed humanity from the restraints of chemical bonds, now synthetic culture offers us freedom from the human spirit. 

In his new installation, Synthetic Accretion, Noah Alexander Isaac Stein, explores AI and plastic as parallel components of an emergent synthetic human experience. Through recovered transparent plastic waste, and shifting multicolored light, Stein mirrors the disorientation and ambient technological allure of contemporary cultural networks. 

If the accumulation of microplastics in the human blood stream are a physical manifestation of synthetic process, Stein invites us to consider the immaterial synthetic as a corollary in the dream-oceans of our collective unconscious.

Upcoming April Solo Show

I’m excited to announce my upcoming solo exhibition at Blackfish Gallery! I’ve been busy working on several new large scale works for the show that I will be exhibiting for the first time, along with a collection of work from the last few years. Many of these pieces are being shown for the first time.

  • The show will be on display from April 2 -26 at Blackfish Gallery, 938 NW Everett St., Portland OR.
  • The opening reception will be on April 3 from 5 – 8 PM
  • I’ll be having an artist talk on Sunday, April 13 at 2 PM

From the press release:

In this new body of work Noah Alexander Isaac Stein explores dualities of interconnection and numinous experience through the lens of mind attempting to move beyond itself. With fire as a metaphor for the transformative act that simultaneously consumes and creates, A Luminous Fire from a Broken Machine approaches the potential for transcendent experience as a resolution to suffering. 

Stein’s work frequently focuses on expressive painting, where interactions of oil and cold wax are used as a catalyst for spiritual epiphany, Noah’s art seeks to provide universal connection point between the artist and audience.

As a part of the exhibition, Stein’s art will be accompanied by a series of his written works which building of his synthesis of expressive and conceptual approaches.

Portland Winter Light Festival 2025

I’m excited to have three installations featured in the 10th annual light festival, which runs from Feb 7 – 15.

Garden at the End of the Anthropocene imagines the growth of a new ecosystem; forgotten technology of the future melding together with unfathomable new forms of biology among the refuse of civilization. Reminiscent of both a techno-vision dream and bioluminescent fungal growth, the installation will speak to both the fate of the of human synthetic detritus, and the resilience of the natural world. Viewable at Ambient Magic Studios.

Behold the Man; at the Threshold of the Future is viewable as part of the Labyrinth of Light at East Creative Collective: “Perched between the future and the past, we stand at the threshold of possibility. We are half animal, still torn by the same desires, fears, and tribalism as our cousins and ancestors. We are half machine, forms bound to technology, and minds inexorably interlinked through code and algorithms, forebears of our future children. We aspire to be gods, ascendent over nature; we are polluted, body, soul, and mind with the plastic sparks of synthesis.

Aurora is an in-gallery exhibition at Blackfish Gallery that draws inspiration from arctic cycles to explore light as conceptual force of meaning. Accompanying the installation is an original ambient soundscape composed by Jason Kowalski.

Drinking from the Water, Ascending into Fire, 2024

Drinking from the Water, Ascending into Fire, 2024
Oil and wax on canvas 
14′′ x 11′

From Jung to the Abzu of ancient Sumerian myth, the watery depths are a constantly reemergent symbol for the buried psyche. A place of great danger as well as shinning treasure, it is only through a clear perception of the unconscious that the soul can break free of conditioned response and experience the ecstatic unity that is sometimes termed the divine.    

What is hidden remains inexorably part of the self, and to deny it is to close in the concept of self, building barriers until the fiery light that permeates all existence becomes a tiny candle surrounded by a sea of darkness. No matter how tightly this blanket of darkness is wrapped however, nothing exists in isolation. Rather than protect the fragile ego, the severing of undesired aspects from the concept of self creates a sea of monsters; no longer part of a complete whole, the mind perceive in its own shadows independence.

In contrast, to accept hidden aspects of self is to transform the very darkness that is feared into the essence of light, which is knowledge. Once the self has achieved this wholeness, the process of incorporation may be continued, extending equally into the external world, of which the individual is an invisible a part as the unconscious is of the self. Although the individual mind is the seat of this experience, this does not contain the boundless expanse of existence inside the ego. In the light of totality, the illusion of ego is finally extinguished, and reality is at last perceived in undifferentiated glory beyond the mere human.

Leviathan

Leviathan, 2024
Oil and wax on canvas 
36′′ x 18′′

It is a strange paradox that out of the collective can emerge a singular intent of direction that is against each individual constituent will. Emergent behavior like a shadowy behemoth, takes its dim form at the peripheries of our consciousness, even as its winding intricacies form an inescapable center.  This paradox is at the heart of the Anthropocene. The leviathan of human progress carries us onward to an uncertain light, and we are the helpless links of its great sinews. 

Axis Mundi of the Flesh

Found cross-culturally, the concept of axis mundi must be understood as an intersection of both physical and psychological geography. Emerging through a variety of symbols, ranging from the cosmic world tree, to the sacred mountain, the essential element is a linkage between worlds. In the symbolic language of the soul, the roots and branches of the tree, extending from below the earth, through the trunk, into the latitudes of sky, connects these disparate elements just as the human mind links the subconscious strata of the collective animal with the divine unity of transcendent experience.

PDXWLF 2024 Installation

I’m excited to announce I am part of the 2024 Portland Winter Light Festival, with a new installation at Blackfish Gallery. The PDXWLF is amazing city-wide event, and I am please to join it once again, with a new monumental installation; Leviathan/Ouroboros.

Constructed out of a skin of recovered fishing nets and filled with local plastic trash, the installation Leviathan / Ouroboros imagines the incarnation of the Anthropocene as a self-consuming serpent.

Designed to capture the paradox of emergent behavior in a collective system spiraling heedlessly towards its own catastrophic unraveling, Leviathan / Ouroboros provides viewers with a tangible connection to abstractions of environmental collapse and spiritual isolation. The machinations of human progress carries us onward to an uncertain light, and we are the helpless links of its great sinews and the prey of its winding intricacies.

Come see it at Blackfish Gallery from February 1st – March 2nd, with extended nighttime hours from 6 PM – 10 PM on February 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 10th.

See more about it here!

Opening Tomorrow at Blackfish Gallery

NEWS

In preparation for my opening tomorrow, I’ve finished up a few final works started in 2023. I’m excited to show them tomorrow from 5 – 8 PM, along with a selection of recent works focusing on fire as symbol of the radiant and transformative nature of spiritual experience.

I’ll be at Blackfish Gallery for the duration of the opening and look forward to meeting visitors and answering questions. Refreshments will be provided.

Hope to see you there!  
  
Noah Alexander Isaac Stein 

UPCOMING SHOWS



My first show at Blackfish Gallery, Wavering Tension and Impressions of Light will open January 4th and run until February 3rd. Focusing on a new body of work, the show will highlight the role of pressure and tension in the emergence of spiritual experience. 

I hope you’ll join me for the opening reception on First Thursday from 5 PM – 8 PM at 938 NW Everett St., Portland, OR.

NEW WORK

Out of Tension, Fire and Light

NEWS

Through both my life and my artistic practice, the last year has been a period of powerful change and transformation. Inseparable as these two aspects of an artists life are, I am excited to share the resulting works.

In addition to new body of work representative of this period, I’m extremely pleased to announce that I’ve been invited to join Blackfish Gallery in Portland, OR. Blackfish Gallery is one of the oldest cooperative art galleries in America, and includes some of the most talented artists in Portland.

My first show At Blackfish, Wavering Tension and Impressions of Light will open January 4th, and I hope you’ll join me at the First Thursday opening.  

Additionally, I’ll be creating a new installation for the 2024 Portland Winter Light Festival, and looking forward to sharing more information about it in the near future.

Look forward to seeing you in January!

Noah Alexander Isaac Stein

 UPCOMING SHOWS



My first show at Blackfish Gallery, Wavering Tension and Impressions of Light will open January 4th and run until February 3rd. Focusing on a new body of work, the show will highlight the role of pressure and tension in the emergence of spiritual experience. In addition to the work below, there will be several brand new piece that will be shown for the first time. 

I hope you’ll join me for the opening reception on First Thursday from 5 PM – 8 PM at 938 NW Everett St. Refreshments will be provided.

NEW WORK



PDXWLF 2024




Im also excited to be part of the Portland Winter Light Festival again! For 2024 I’ll be creating a 40 ft glowing ghost net leviathan at Blackfish Gallery this February, as well as organizing an accompanying group show, “Illuminations”. Additionally, in case you missed it, I’ll be reopening my 2023 installation, Disgorged by the Ocean into Liminal Brightness (pictured) at East Creative Collective. Expect more news soon.

Joining Blackfish Gallery

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been invited to join Blackfish Gallery as a member-owner. Blackfish is among the oldest continually operating collective art galleries in America, and has been a cornerstone of the Portland art scene for over 45 years. It’s been great to connect already with so many amazing artists, and I’m looking forward to my first show there in January 2024.