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Latest Artist's Video:
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Artist Statement:
In the early 1990's Stephen
Mead's poems began appearing
in such journals as Onionhead,
Bellowing Ark, and Invert, but
upon moving to Provincetown,
Mass., Stephen decided to
concentrate more on visual
work. It was in the year
2000, after moving back to NY,
that Stephen started seeking
publication ...
Further Information
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Artist Exhibitions:
2011: Pine Hollow Arboretum,
Slingerlands, NY
(Nature-themed art)
2011: Off the Rocks Anthology
(Cover Image)
2011, Diverse Voices Quarterly
Vo. 3 (Time, Place, Place,
Time Art)
2011: Qarrtsiluni,
Imprisonment issue (How the
Other Side…imagery)
2011: Eiphany
Magazine,(Pandora Oceana
Inverted)
2011: da2011! Festival, at
institut für alles ...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
Coming Soon!
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Reviews for Stephen Mead:
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http://www.sevencirclepress.com/ourbookofcommonfaith.htm
Our Book of Common Faith by Stephen Mead Reviewed by Seth Jani
Stephen Mead’s multimedia work “Our book of Common Faith” is a subtly woven but easily accessible montage tying together strands of many different religious/spiritual traditions and disciplines to voice a simple, but powerful message… one evoking world peace and openness to the many layers of being.
The book, which is comprised of roughly seventy pages, beautifully blends together Mr. Mead’s colorful, particularly surreal paintings and photography with short, enigmatic poems that serve to both interpret the visuals as well as accompany them with crystallized passages informed by the spirit of many traditions.
"Our Book of Common Faith" starts off with a painting of two great hands seemingly cupping the globe, underneath is a short poem that consists primarily of questions, ones that concern the birth of the universe and which effectively establish western man’s troubling dichotomy between the extremes of science and religion (From what gases did creation come/Did they belong to some god with looking-on angels/or, by accident, did star meld with star).
At this point the author offers no answers, and one enters the following pages in a proper state of wonderment.
From this opening page right until the closing lines, Mr. Mead creates a multi-sensory journey that quietly, but progressively introduces the reader to one religious/spiritual motif after another. Including fully illustrated references to Egypt’s Scarab mythology, the perennial importance of baptism, and the archetypal lost realm of Edenic innocence (Look for those treasures/Navigate their maps/in the golden time buried).
At times these themes are presented in ways that are startlingly fresh and it is in these moments that one truly appreciates the power inherent in the multimedia approach, witnessing the way in which the words and imagery reflect and deepen each other. As evidenced in the fifth plate, which so pristinely depicts the childhood joy of bubble blowing, while the poem below boldly states “These boys are bubbles also”, reminding one of the old Zen poets who were apt to describe all living things as soap-bubbles vibrantly reflecting light as they blow and burst through eternity.
Or in the instance where one turns the page to be greeted by two rough hands tenderly breaking bread, while the text underneath urges the reader, and perhaps the world, to “Break now and cast your bread upon the current, a Eucharist for the gulls, a bounty of plenty to be shared for harvests and gratitude.” A statement which in its own subtle but revolutionary way seems to be encouraging our often human-centric spirituality to touch again upon our primal roots; the body of Christ eaten not for self-redemption, but offered to the world, to redeem in our awareness our own repressed connection with the greater organism of the earth.
The book though is not all air and spirit, there is gravity too and it doesn’t fear to hint at some of our world’s more tangible, practical problems (still in its own vague way of course).
“The dirt of it is sacred in every land, especially with beginnings of fertility without toxins.” The word toxins hits you like a bullet. After pages of the most delicate, sublimated imagery, “Toxins” breaks in with its mouthful of negative connotations and one realizes that “Our Book of Common Faith” is a call not only to open, integrated spirituality but to a renewed sense of ecological commitment.
There are far too many plates, poems and nuances to this seemingly simple book to be able to adequately contemplate them all in one review, but the book does have some crowning moments that deserve mention.
The first comes perhaps only ten pages from the end and it consists of one exceptionally dazzling illustration (depicting a phantom-like being surrounded by stars with robe flying open to reveal a vibrant yellow temple centered underneath) accompanied by the single question “What, if not global conscience, can continue to lift the purpose of our gravity back to assisting light?”. One reads this and cannot help but chime in with Mr. Mead in asking the question; what if not a shared love of the world, with all its diverse cultural and natural manifestations, will help us to lift the lonely burden of our lives back into the assisting light of the cosmos, what indeed?
The second of these crowning moments comes at the very end, when Mead seemingly makes his confession as to which forces will show us the way into this new visionary future, he says “Imagination will lead us/Earth will return us with its Kingdome of familiars.”
The way to this other future rests not in our logic, in our ability to divide and conquer, but through the boundary melding power of the imagination, and through a reconnection with the earth, with its many other inhabitants, our silent brothers and sisters, our “loyal companions”. The book rightly ends with a painting of one of these inhabitants, looking expectantly out from the wavering depths.
To conclude, this reader must happily say that the book works…it really works. It is able to do what many so called multi-media works set out to do, create a collaborative effort between two unique art forms in which each component informs and enriches the others.
The paintings could most certainly stand alone (the poetry perhaps less so) but together they form a cohesive whole that more than fulfills the book's intent as espoused in the title, and one leaves the pages feeling as though they have really gotten a peak into what a book of common faith would look like if we could only work through our borders and begin to embrace the first luminous inklings of a greater “global conscience.”
Cheers to Mr. Mead.
First Amazon.com 4 Star Review for "Our Book of Common Faith"
4.0 out of 5 stars A unique and intriguing compilation, October 18, 2009
By Trudie Barreras - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
I really didn't know quite what to expect with this book, but having encountered the author on a blog (Jesus in Love) that I have found valuable and meaningful, I decided to see what the book was like. I found it to be both unique and a worthwhile addition to my library. The visual images are well reproduced, and the poetry is insightful.
Gay Artist Links Body & Spirit
http://jesusinlove.blogspot.com/2009/02/gay-artist-links-body-and-spirit.html
Sexuality and spirituality unite beautifully in the work of gay artist Stephen Mead of New York.
Gay angels enfold each other in glittering wings as they make love in “Angels Consorting” (see above). Another pair sleeps wrapped in each other’s arms with naked vulnerability in “Angels Sleeping Unawares”(see below). Angels are usually presented as neutered, asexual beings. Mead delights the eye and does great service by showing that the messengers of God can be erotically alive.
Both angel paintings are part of “Blue Heart Diary,” a meditative series about the universality of struggle, both global and personal. Like much of Mead’s work, it fuses art and poetry. The actual written work is over a thousand lines long with several hundred images spanning over two decades. A video sets some of the images to music, creating a meditative experience that is both soothing and thought-provoking. The angel paintings also appear on his DVD “Captioned Closeness” at Indieflix.com.
Mead presents a different view of embodied spirituality in “Sponge Christ We Anoint You” (see below). Taking care of a dying man becomes a sensuous, holy experience in the evocative painting. The work is a glowing embodiment of Christ’s own words, “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me.” Both the anointer and the anointed become one with Christ.
In the poem that accompanies the work, Mead writes:
Sponge Christ,
We anoint you.
Whatever modern day soul
Your skin christens
& the sponge, a host
For the innocence
Without martyrdom
Save the humanness
In being a triptych
Of vision, blood and bone.
“Sponge Christ We Anoint You” is included in Mead’s series “Washing the Body,” which is dedicated to the patients from Mead’s 15 years in the healthcare field.
Self-taught as an artist, Mead acknowledges that his art has been heavily influenced by both surrealism and expressionism. In the early 1990s his poetry began appearing in such journals as Onionhead, Bellowing Ark, and Invert. He moved Provincetown and began to concentrate more on visual work. He returned to New York in 2000 and started seeking publication again for both his writing and his art combined.
Since then, his work has appeared internationally both in galleries, in print and in cyberspace. Mead has done films, CDs and e-books, including the award-winning “We Are More Than Our Wounds.” His current project is “Swan Songs,” a film series that superimposes live footage over his images while using his own singing voice as a soundtrack.
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/10/21/ae/today/14013048.txt
Area galleries offer unconventional beauty, expression
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Art is subjective.
Like clothing, art is merely an expression -- a way of speaking without using words.
Art that elicits questions on what it could possibly be, like a Jackson Pollack or a Wassily Kandinsky, is expressionistic.
The work is done based on not what the author sees, but rather, what they feel. Once you realize what feeling they are trying to evoke, you feel a connection to the painting.
I experienced this last week when I visited bjsartworks gallery on Lawrence Street in Glens Falls to view an exhibit on domestic violence. Although many of the pieces were mixed-media and unconventional, they were incredible.
A favorite piece of mine was "The Reclamation" by artist Stephen Mead. The work, which was an accompanying piece to another display, comprises paint, hair, beads, pearls, paint, pieces of sponge and a small doll.
At first glance, the piece was a little hard to read. But after stepping back and really looking at it, it was easy not only to understand but to also feel for the woman in the picture. It is powerful, to say the least.
I also attended the Third Thursday Art Walk in downtown Glens Falls. There were so many different types of art, anyone's artistic appetite could have been satisfied. Shows featured pottery, paintings and even work done by local children. The work was eclectic, but it proved the point. Even though pieces were vastly different, each one was beautiful to someone.
One of my top choices was an art display at Achenbach Jewelers on Glen Street. Artist Carrie Philon created labyrinth designs that she put on square blocks. The blocks were flat, and she designed the art to be interactive. She told me that by doing labyrinths, it gives the brain a chance to calm down and reduce stress. There is also a positive saying on the bottom, since Philon believes that people, particularly women, are too negative toward themselves.
Taking two minutes out of your day to do the labyrinth can change your mood and your outlook, according to the artist. It was an incredibly innovative idea, and I thought the pieces were unconventional but beautiful.
Later during the walk, I also encountered photographer Joe Kaye, who owns Laminate and Frame on Ridge Street. While explaining his photographs, Kaye said, "They can't tell you what makes a good picture." It's true. Art is made to be enjoyed by those who see it, and the definition of "good art" tends to vary based on the person you are talking to.
Just because a piece isn't an easy-to-recognize portrait or landscape doesn't mean it isn't beautiful in its own way. Next time you see a piece of art, whether
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