DAVID STERN
AFFECTIONS
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Cover: Root, 2010, oil and pigments on cotton, 55x48 in.
Ellipsis Art is an art advisory firm that provides a full range of services in art acquisition, collection management, and curatorial advice. Our mission is to create a direct dialogue between collectors and select artists and artists’ estates. By working exclusively with artists and their estates, we create a unique opportunity for collectors to acquire art directly from artists.
ANGELICA SEMMELBAUER / Art Advisor angelica@ellipsis-art.com
DAVID STERN
AFFECTIONS Limitations or better form, than that is what limitation really is, defines the so called ‘human condition’, our soul’s imprisonment in the physical, the body. A form, which we did not choose, but which was forced on all of us, soul has no limitations, is without boundaries, an energy, which is forced to manifest itself every so often. Metempsychosis, as the ancient Greek Orphic religion called this concept of reincarnation. By definition, biological gender, as a specific form of body is a limitation for the soul, we need to get used to it, in order to live in it. From ancient societies until today, humanity has used physical or metaphysical practices to ease its youth into the acceptance of their given gender, culminating in a rite of passage when sexual maturity arrives. The need to help children ease into feeling comfortable in their given bodies, and accept the given limitation defined by their gender points to the variability of this acceptance. All ancient societies knew gender variations, boy-girls and girl-boys as well as boy-boys and girl-girl. Particularly interesting is that Native Americans allowed these variations to play out in the developing adolescent into adulthood and accepted cross-dressing and opposite gender identification, but disallowed same sex relations. In Jewish mysticism, as expressed in the cabalistic tradition, however, there are the conceptual values attributed to the male-female world, the world of + and - receptiveness and formation. Contrary to Western belief, the male side is characterized as the receptive part and the female as the forming part. Since ancient times the practitioners of artistic professions have been attributed to have female qualities, and yes indeed, in order to force something into being, one needs the attributes of discipline, endurance and strength. They do need the male characteristics as well, so we are looking in the artist’s case at a need to marry both sides into one, manifesting both female and male traits in one human existence. One could argue, that that is the case in any successfully gender adapted human being, a multifaceted existence in which endless variations and combinations of the two sides manifest themselves. In our times the digital revolution has shown so clearly the incredible possibilities afforded through the endless varieties of the combination of 0 and 1, which is conceptually nothing else than the male - female dichotomy of our known world. Back to the ‘human condition’, no matter how gender adapted a human being is, there is the need for union with another soul (souls) outside of ourselves. Whether we are looking at a spiritual or physical union, the precondition for a successful link, allowing the exchange of the essence of our souls with another, is a certain emphatic emotional state, which I call ‘affection’. Only affection for another being allows us to drop the defense lines of form in the spiritual and physical sense. I find the forming of this state a fascinating subject and have worked for dozens of years in one form or another about this process. David Stern, New York, 2019 4
“All limitations, external or internal, are prison-walls, and life is a limitation.� - Oscar Wilde.
Affections 003, 2012, oil and pigments on cotton, 20x23 in.
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Affections 006, 2012, oil and pigments on cotton, 29x24 in.
Affections 007, 2012, oil and pigments on cotton, 29x24 in.
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Affections 005, 2012, oil and p
pigments on cotton, 20x23 in.
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Affections 010, 2017, oil and pigments on cotton, 39x48 in.
Affections 001, 2012, oil and pigments on cotton, 20x23 in.
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Tumbleweeds (Bauerntanz), 2012, oil and pigments on cotton, 67x58 in.
Affections 002, 2012, oil and pigments on cotton, 20x23 in.
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Affections 05, 2019, acrylics and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
Affections 04, 2019, acrylics and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
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Affections 09, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in. SOLD
Affections 08, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
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Affections 07, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
Affections06, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
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Affections 10, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 39x27 in.
Affections 03, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 39x27 in.
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Affections 11, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
Affections 13, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
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Affections 01, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
Affections 02, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
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Affections 14, 2019, acrylic and
d pigments on paper, 27x39 in.
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Affections 20, 2019, acrylic and pigments on paper, 42x28 in.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 David Stern: Five Paintings, Messineo Art Projects/Wyman Contemporary, New York, January 27 – March 13 2010 David Stern: The American Years (1995-2008) national traveling exhibition curated by Karen Wilkin, The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC, August 26-October 8, 2010 2009 Cold Cuts – The American Years, Galerie Brennecke, Berlin, October 24- December 3, 2009 Selections from “One Hundred Simple Things,” Messineo Art Projects/Wyman Contemporary, New York, May 14 – July 16 2008-09 David Stern: The American Years (1995-2008), national traveling exhibition curated by Karen Wilkin, Yeshiva University Museum, New York, September 18, 2008-February 8, 2009 Alexander Hogue Gallery, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, October 30-November 28 2005-06 David Stern at The Starrett-Leihigh (project 1740), NYC presented by Claudia Carr, November 15-December 20 2004 David Stern: Braces and Shadows, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC, April 28-June 3 2002 David Stern: The Gatherings, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC, October 10-November 16 2001 David Stern: Common Ground, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC, April 25-May 26 2000 David Stern: Recent Paintings, Louis Stern Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, April 27-June 3 1999 David Stern: Random Cycles, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC, October 12-November 13 David Stern: Recent Work, William Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston, SC, September 2-25 1998 David Stern: New Paintings, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC, April 28-May 30 1997 David Stern, Galerie Joachim Blüher, Cologne, Germany 1996 David Stern: Skypieces and Portraits, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, NYC, September 11-October 19 1995 David Stern: Drawings and Paintings, Synagogue for the Arts, NYC, May 10-June 11 Galerie Brennecke, Berlin, Germany 1994 David Stern, Kunstverein, Gütersloh, Germany, November 20 – December 11 Identity and Relationship: Recent Paintings by David Stern, National Jewish Museum, Washington, DC, December 15 - January David Stern: Bilder, Galerie Brennecke, Berlin, Germany, October 14 – November 19 David Stern: Malerei, Galerie X Sadie Bierl, Munich, Germany 1993 David Stern: Malerei, Galerie Brennecke, Berlin, Germany, January 23 – March 6 1992-93 David Stern: Tanulmányok egy útról (Study for a Way), Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, November 26, 1992 – January 7, 1993 David Stern: Malerei, Kunstsammlung der Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, March 15 – April 26 1992 David Stern: Malerei, Galerie Welz, Salzburg, Austria, September 4 – September 29 David Stern: Paintings, Martin Ainscough Gallery, Liverpool, England, October 3 – November 2 29
ANGELICA SEMMELBAUER angelica@ellipsis-art.com
ELLIPSIS ART FOUNDER
ANGELICA SEMMELBAUER Angelica is a Private Art Advisor working with a variety of artists and consulting private clients. She is a member of the NYU Alumni Council and ArtTable, the leadership organization for professional women in the visual arts. 2005 - 2014 Director of Mimi Ferzt Gallery in New York City, which specialized in Russian Non-Conformist and Contemporary Art. Organized important curatorial exhibitions of prominent Russian artists, and successfully placed them in important private and public art collections around the world. 2004, NYU Masters Degree, Visual Arts Administration Published graduate thesis focused on building a sustainable global market for Russian Contemporary Art, tracing Russian art through its various historical movements, from Soviet era to the Russian Non-Conformist Movement, to discussion of today’s contemporary art in Russia. Catalog Design: Lisa Meta Griff, Metamorfize.com 30