Statement
Examining the intersections of spiritual experience and catastrophe, both at collective and personal levels, my art seeks out the potential for transcendence in tension. As my subject matter shifts between extant environmental and social issues, and syncretic overlaps of religious and mythological archetypes, the emergence of transcendent experience forms a consistent theme.
In my work this aspect of human experience is treated both as a recurrent motif, and more centrally as an intrinsic property of process. Using the inherent tensions in my subjects as provocation, oil and cold wax mediums, as well as discarded plastic and LED lights, are used as expressive catalysts for states of trance and ecstatic release. Resulting works are intended as a synthesis of internal experience and external expression, where traces of process, including brushwork, scrapes, and gauges form essential compositional elements. Left unaltered, in finished painting these traces are intended to provide viewers access to the undifferentiated states they describe.
Reflecting the multi-faceted complexity of our responses to adversity, my work is intended to equally address and move beyond suffering. Through fracturing the illusion of separation, it seeks to build a singular transformative experience shared by both artist and viewer. Through this interconnection I believe we may discover an underlying universal unity which precludes destruction.
Bio
Noah Alexander Isaac Stein is a self-taught artist living and working in Portland, OR. Focused on ecstatic oil paintings and large scale light-based installations, Stein’s work explores themes of spiritual transcendence, political discord, and environmental collapse.
For Stein, ecstatic experience represents both an underlying truth and the means to move beyond suffering. To communicate this to viewers, Stein explores both contemporary and traditional frameworks for their potential to provoke insight that leads to direct experience.
Shaped both by his multi-faith and bi-ethnic background, and his experiences living, working, and traveling throughout the world, for Stein all understanding draws from a common well. A current member of Blackfish Gallery, Stein is also a founding member of international peacemaking group Art Knows No Borders, and a voice for Portland artists as the president and founder of First Friday PDX.