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Jason Stein

Published: 14.12.2022

Bio

Jason Stein is a jeweler, metalsmith, and sculptor living in Matthews, NC. He received his BFA in Metals and Jewelry Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2008 and received his MFA in Metal Design from East Carolina University in 2010. He works full-time as a bench jeweler and teaches curriculum classes in jewelry and metalsmithing at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC. His work has been featured in national and international exhibitions and symposiums such as  the “War: Polemos” exhibition at Munich Jewelry Week 2020, “Broken Beauty” at Alliages in Lilles, France, the 2019 Front of The House/Back of The House Exhibition at Heidi Lowe Gallery, Craft Forms 2017 and 2018 at the Wayne Art Center in Wayne, PA, Materials Hard+Soft in Denton, TX, and the 4th and 5th Annual International Belt Buckle Championships.

Statement

The central themes I explore in my creative process and work are the ideas of control, chance, and failure: both in the physical world around us and within our own consciousness. I am fascinated by the physical means of control we encounter and the overt and covert influence of the unseen structures and systems of everyday existence that modify our experiential reality. My work is also inspired by the textures and forms of the natural world and the geological structures and surfaces that occur. I am drawn to the subtleties found in such hard and unforgiving materials and landscapes and humanity’s impacts and efforts to control and extract precious and desirable materials. I draw inspiration from the historical techniques of excavation, rock blasting, tunnelling, and industry. From this, I strive to find beauty and elegance in often-overlooked remnant structures and surfaces.

Through the creation of my sculptural forms and objects, I seek to explore the nature of the unconscious mind and create physical representations and reinterpretations of the structures of my internal mental landscape that represent a re-constructed reality. The internal struggle and battle for control, understanding, and manipulation of our perceived sense of identity can be seen as a form of internal warfare, set against the backdrop of the volatile world and political climate we all must navigate in modern society. By taking one's innermost fears and insecurities and creating physical representations that can be worn and displayed, one is able to identify and control the subconscious forces at play within one's mental landscape.

My intent is to create juxtapositions and states of conflict and interplay between disparate elements such as order and chaos, the industrial versus organic, and the talisman and the relic. I push materials and processes to their breaking point, and then use the resulting textures and structures as the starting points and components for new pieces. This chaotic and intense process of alchemy and creation gives birth to new forms and ways of thinking about beauty and adornment, sustainability, the reuse of objects and materials, and my own creative studio process. The result is finished works that speak to my visual and conceptional framework of control, hidden systems and structures, manipulation, and transformation. 

CV      View / hide description

Events      View / hide events

2024:
Exhibition  02 May 2024 - 05 May 2024  (Un)Avowable Secrets at Jewellery Week of Cagnes-sur-Mer.
Exhibition  28 Feb 2024 - 02 Mar 2024  (Un)Avowable Secrets.
2023:
Exhibition  02 Nov 2023 - 02 Dec 2023  The Space Between by Precious Collective.
Exhibition  05 Oct 2023 - 20 Nov 2023  Missing Memories in Madrid.
Exhibition  28 Sep 2023 - 30 Sep 2023  Missing Memories in Barcelona.
Exhibition  10 Jun 2023 - 05 Nov 2023  DNA in Cagnes sur Mer.
Exhibition  27 Apr 2023 - 29 Apr 2023  Missing Memories at the Melting Point 2023.
Exhibition  08 Mar 2023 - 11 Mar 2023  Missing Memories in Munich 2023.
Exhibition  10 Feb 2023 - 17 Apr 2023  Remnants and Relics by Jason Stein.
2022:
Meeting  06 Mar 2022 - 06 Mar 2022  Metamorphoses. Live Online Show.
Exhibition  25 Feb 2022 - 02 Apr 2022  Metamorphoses.
2021:
Exhibition  20 Dec 2021 - 11 Feb 2022  Until Death Do Us Part.
Exhibition  08 Oct 2021 - 10 Nov 2021  Painful Hope in Madrid.
2020:
Exhibition  12 Dec 2020 - 13 Feb 2021  Painful Hope.
Exhibition  05 Nov 2020 - 08 Nov 2020  War.
Exhibition  11 Mar 2020 - 14 Mar 2020  WAR_The Comics.
Exhibition  11 Mar 2020 - 14 Mar 2020  Broken Beauty in Munich.
2019:
Exhibition  14 Dec 2019 - 15 Feb 2020  Broken Beauty.

Publications      View / hide publications

Magazine:  SM*CK Magazine. Issue #03 Munich Special. ZLR Betriebsimperium:  Hamburg / Athens,  2021