Jay Stern

Common Road House size: 14" poplar materials: oil on wood Statement: In the busy day-to-day grind, it’s easy to take for granted something as fundamental as having food on the table and a warm home. But access to these basic needs is not a reality for everyone in our community, which is why I’m so thrilled to participate in this fundraiser—bringing the connective power of art and community together to make a difference. AIO provides essential food and energy assistance to local families and children, and I’m honored to contribute my work to an organization working toward a community where everyone has access to the food, warmth, and support they need. BIO: Jay Stern's (b. Columbus, OH) paintings explore the non-linear nature of memory. He adroitly maneuvers between locations, objects, light and shadow, windows looking in and looking out. Perspectives shift and coalesce to create quotidian relationships, but those that are steeped in experience. Through stacking and collaging, Stern finds a freedom in abstraction that is used to combine, contrast, and mold together pictures. Swathes of space are created through meticulous details that offer a compositional moment of play. The artist expounds upon forebears such as Richard Diebenkorn and Marsden Hartley, continuing the lineage of American landscape painting imbued with his life in coastal Maine.