Stephen Kasner

Stephen Kasner: WORKS 1993-2006 is an extensive compendium of the paintings, drawings, photographs and prints of a contemporary artist who’s symbols translate into a stellar vocabulary depicting strife of the human animal against the austerity of nature. Covering thirteen years of artistic development and exploration, Stephen Kasner: WORKS offers a comprehensive collection of Kasner’s organic depictions of figures and animals, birds and flowers, landscapes and interiors, co-mingling in bursts of self-discovery. Dreamlike and vast, these vistas interpret human emotion and psychological struggle in tandem with the harshness of nature and how combinations of delights and disasters affect our personalities, striving toward relief and a yearning for euphoria. Working primarily in oil on canvas and paper, the works compiled in this thirteen year retrospective cover Kasner’s sketches, studies, figurative works, full-scale works, photography and printmaking, the latter of which lies predominantly unexhibited and unpublished to date. Stephen Kasner: WORKS is a comprehensive look at the paintings and images of ethereal works in flux, ever pulsating and growing. Included are texts and quotes by a stunning array of individuals, both at the forefront and underbelly of literary and art worlds. The book also chronicles Kasner’s extensive group of music-related art, having collaborated with numerous bands worldwide, interpreting their sounds into images.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio against a backdrop of gray, undulating skies, frozen winters and a tapestried shadow of Lake Erie, Stephen Kasner’s paintings, drawings and photographs reflect visions of a pre/post-apocalyptic industrial landscape and the struggle for survival contained in dreams of enlightenment. Currently residing in California, Kasner’s paintings continue to expand upon the human versus nature. His use of figures, objects, animals and flowers translate into symbols of determination of inner, personal cosmos.