Unearthed ― Stephen Talasnik: Drawings, Sculpture, Installations

Stephen Talasnik's intricate and mesmerizing work bridges the disciplines of art and architecture in this debut monograph.

A polymath whose work encompasses sculpture, drawing, and architectural land art, Stephen Talasnik manifests an elaborate and evocative aesthetic vision. Inspired by visionary artists and architects such as Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanni Piranesi, Gustav Eiffel, Antoni Gaudí, and Buckminster Fuller, Talasnik presents a fantastical world that looks as archaeological as it does futuristic.

Unearthed presents a broad spectrum of Talasnik's work spanning the last decade, starting with floating sculptures commissioned by the Denver Botanic Garden, continuing on through projects at Storm King Art Center and Russel Wright Design Center, and culminating with a 30-foot-high timber sculpture at the new, highly lauded Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana. The publication of Unearthed coincides with the first exhibition at Tippet Rise devoted to a single artist. Numerous examples of Talasnik's drawings are also included, as well as smaller-scale indoor and outdoor sculptures in diverse materials.

Several key contributors help interpret diverse angles of Talasnik's practice, including renowned art critic Phyllis Tuchman, architect and critic Michael Sorkin, theorist David Wittenberg, and the late architect Lebbeus Woods, a close friend to Talasnik. Through these essays and hundreds of reproductions of Talasnik's spellbinding work, Unearthed presents the extraordinary visions of an artist on the cusp of broad recognition.

Stephen Talasnik is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design (BFA) and the Tyler School of Art (Rome and Philadelphia, MFA). He served as exhibitions coordinator at the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia for six years, after which he moved to Tokyo to teach art and art history. For years he traveled extensively in Asia, studying vernacular engineering using natural materials. He expanded his practice into sculpture in the early 2000s, and has created installations for the Japan Society, Storm King Art Center, and as one of the primary artists with works at Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana. His work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Albertina, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the British Museum, and the Centre Pompidou. He lives and works in New York City.
Lebbeus Woods (1940-2012) was a visionary architect, artist, and instructor. Phyllis Tuchman is a critic who has published in top art publications for over fifty years. David Wittenberg is an associate professor at the University of Iowa and the author of Time Travel. Michael Sorkin is an architect and author of numerous books of criticism, including All Over the Map and Twenty Minutes in Manhattan.