Bio: Oliver Stern is an artist originally from Philadelphia and currently based in Ithaca, New York. They work in intaglio printmaking, rendering landscapes through exercises in translating memory and observation. They find revelation in the act of journeying underneath highways, through tunnels, by river shorelines, and along sites of industrial decay. Stern received their Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornell University in May 2024. They have exhibited in New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Houston, Ithaca and Rome, and their work has been featured in the Washington Post.

Artist Statement: Oliver Stern’s work depicts marginal landscapes along Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. These sites echo personal feelings of entropy, destruction and rebirth. Stern includes the hands of an observer, considering the role of the Rückenfigur in a modern landscape completely transformed by humans. Traditionally used to conjure a feeling of dominion over the natural world, Stern instead employs scale to suggest a feeling of smallness compared to the expanse of developed land. Concrete and metal forms bleed into each other, lacking boundaries or definition. The post-industrial landscape Stern creates is fixed in a state of constant transformation, erasure and succession.

Website: oliverstern.com

Social Media: @oliversternart