By Pia Stern
Located in San Francisco, CA
This artwork "Untitled" 1998 is in an original pastel on paper by noted American artist Pia Stern, b. 1953. It is hand signed and dated in pencil by the artist. The artwork size is 16 x 8 inches, framed size is 26.25 x 17.5 inches. Custom framed in a wooden silver frame, with off white matting and bevel. It is in excellent condition. The frame is in fair condition. It has some small scratches Please see pictures.
About the artist:
Pia Stern spent her junior year abroad in Aix-en-Provence, the town in the south of France where Paul Cézanne lived and worked. There she took her first painting course and felt instantly at home with her instructors’ philosophical and visual perceptions of the world.
Returning to UC Berkeley as a senior, she enrolled in the art program and was greatly influenced by several artists who were integral to the Bay Area Figurative Movement including Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Joan Brown and most notably, Elmer Bischoff, with whom she worked very closely.
Stern is primarily a process painter, and is known for her exploration of symbolic language. As stated by noted author and art critic Sister Wendy Beckett in "Contemporary Women Artists:" “Pia Stern…has an unusual power of transforming her ‘dreams’ into our own…The artist seeks out the great secrets of the heart and bodies them forth.”
Using oil paints and drawing materials in an intuitive manner, she rarely approaches her work with a preconceived idea. She may put down a quick gestural stroke, a dab of color or a general shape, yet this is just a starting point for her. Like an archeologist, she approaches the canvas as if on a ‘dig’, adding and subtracting, waiting for the meaning of the piece to reveal itself through the mark making process.
Her work is held in galleries, museums, public and private collections nationwide, and has been critically acclaimed in newspapers, books and journal reviews. She has a studio in Little Italy in San Diego, and her work is currently represented in San Francisco at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery and The Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, and in Honolulu by Fine Arts Associates.
EDUCATION
1978 University of California, Berkeley, M.F.A.
1977 University of California, Berkeley, M.A.
1975 University of California, Berkeley, B.A.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014 Blue Azul Gallery, La Jolla, CA
2008 The Lobby Gallery, 455 Market, San Francisco, CA
2007 Cheryl Pelavin Gallery, N.Y., N.Y.
Palette Café Art...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Expressionist Valerie Christell Art