Division is an inherent characteristic of drawing. Each image begins with a single decision that divides the surface into parts. Sometimes overtly, other times it is subtle and implicit. Decisions about light, or the absence of, continue this process spatially. As one decision begets another an image develops leading to an idea. The irony of drawing is that only through this measure of segregation of its two-dimensional surface can content be delivered. It is through differences that unity is found; in order to build it, it must be broken down. Whether the image is abstract or representational, perceptual or invented, the idea is delivered through a long process of division.

The way we move through the environment is analogous to this drawing process. The infrastructure of our cities and towns move out into the landscape and as it progresses, it divides, delineates and reorders. Various construction, completed and in progress, is fused with the environment, developing a muscular ability to redirect and alter progress, direction and perception. Each road, building, bridge and parcel of land becomes part of an equation that is still in the process of defining itself. The landscape becomes the residue of a long series of shifts in aesthetics, politics and necessity; its sum being one of accumulation.

My work is a response to this experience.

 

born: 1960, Springfield, MA

education

Massachusetts College of Art, MFA, 1997
Massachusetts College of Art. BFA, 1984
Greenfield Community College, AS, 1981

selected awards/honors

Artist Resource Trust Grant, 2006
Massachusetts Artist Fellowship; Finalist, Drawing, 1989
Fulbright Grant, 1986
Massachusetts Artist Fellowship; Finalist, Painting, 1986

selected publications

Studio Visit Magazine; Open Studio Press, Boston, MA, 2008
"The Artist's Loft" Episode One - Up and Going; Television interview for Lowell Telecommunications and Riverhawks Production, 2007
"Galleries Sum Up Season", Visual Arts; Boston Herald, June 30, 2002
"Witty Ideas Spill From UMass Lowell Faculty Show"; Lowell Sun, Sept. 26, 2002

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Miller Block Gallery: Stephen Mishol-Recent Work, Boston, Ma, 2007
University Gallery, University of Massachusetts Lowell: Stephen Mishol-Selected Work, Lowell, MA, 2006
Coburn Gallery, Colorado College: Drawings and Paintings-Stephen Mishol, Colorado Springs, CO 2003
Andrea Marquit Fine Arts: Stephen Mishol: Paintings & Monoprints, Boston, MA, 1996

selected group shows

Froelick Gallery: Road Show, Portland, OR, 2007
Miller Block Gallery: Systems, Boston, MA, 2002
DeCordova Museum: Recent Acquisitions, Lincoln, MA, 1996
Institute of Contemporary Art: Boston Now, Boston, MA, 1986