Cole Sternberg

Cole Sternberg is a conceptual artist who lives and works in Los Angeles.

His practice contemplates humanity’s existential quandary: that of being hopelessly destructive, yet forever and inevitably linked with nature. Through varied media (including painting, sculpture, installation, performance, photography, film and writing), Sternberg positions the aspirations of humankind against the dominant and regenerative forces of the environment and the arbitration of time. For the artist, the conclusion is unavoidable. Human enterprises -- art, language, history, law, and republic -- are ephemeral / illusory endeavors that attempt to reflect, parallel, and challenge the ascendency of nature to no avail.

In recent years, Sternberg’s practice has centered on the environment acting as the true artist. Some pieces have incorporated poetry, suggesting imprecise narratives or descriptions that can’t be fully apprehended through words. His photographs interrupt time, while historical and cultural myths are pursued and deconstructed in sculptural installations and film. These confrontations frequently materialize in instances of erasure; erasure of marks and words, erasure of history, or the erasure of the natural environment. Sternberg’s works remain subversive in their unremitting search for truth, noting humanity’s attempts to create beautiful permanence while failing admirably. Sternberg’s first digital generative works ‘spring begins with the first rainstorm’ and ‘chaos comes with the summer haze’ were released in 2022 and 2023 with Art Blocks.

Sternberg has exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the American University Museum (Washington, DC), El Segundo Museum of Art (El Segundo, CA), Hochhaus Hansa (a Ruhr.2010 Museum, Dortmund, Germany), Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND, Los Angeles), LA><ART (Los Angeles), Praz Delavallade (Los Angeles), Yeo Workshop (Singapore), Primary (Miami), David B. Smith Gallery (Denver), Peter Blake Gallery (Laguna Beach), There There (Los Angeles), MAMA (Los Angeles & Berlin), e105 Gallery (Berlin), Paris Photo (Los Angeles), Zona Maco (Mexico City), ArtBo (Bogota), and Art Los Angeles Contemporary (ALAC, Los Angeles).

His works are held by major collections throughout the world, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), the El Segundo Museum of Art (ESMoA), the American University Museum (AUM) and Deutsche Telekom. It has been featured in publications such as, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Whitewall Magazine, Issue Magazine, Autre Magazine, Hercules, Denver Post, Miami New Times, LA Weekly, Art Ltd., Architectural Digest, Angeleno, Sleek, Metal Magazine, ArtNet, Cool Hunting, Huffington Post, Elle, Flaunt and Elephant.