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Stephen Linsteadt is a California-born painter, currently residing in Brazil. Inspired by the Brazilian landscape, its people, and environmental challenges, he creates vivid imagery of nature, often in the framework of mythological motifs to address the various crises of contemporary society, such as changing environments, materialism, loneliness, and intolerance. He is known for his energetic brushwork and sensual use of paint and color.
Linsteadt's paintings represent the process of making art as much as the rumination of the message. He utilizes an armature of geometry and color from which he allows the work to change and evolve. He works and re-works the surface with an emphasis on the gestural as a tribute to the human condition.
Born in Ukiah, California in 1956, Stephen studied painting with Marjorie Hyde at Grossmont College and graduated with honors from Long Beach State University with a B.F.A. in painting. In 1978, Stephen was an Artist-in-Residence for the City of Long Beach, where he taught painting to inner-city youth. He did graduate studies at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.
Stephen Linsteadt is internationally known as the author of the books "The Heart of the Hero," "Scalar Heart Connection," and "Quantum Healing Codes". His poetry collection is titled "The Beauty of Curved Space".
In Long Beach, Linsteadt studied with Jack Tworkov, who was dedicated to self-exploration through the painting process. Linsteadt was influence by Tworkov's ideas of Action Painting with broad gestural strokes and underlying geometric grids.
Linsteadt is an avid student of Carl Jung and owes much of his imagery to Jung's ideas on mythological, archetypal, and alchemical symbolism, particularly that of the Unknown Woman. Linsteadt explains, "I always include 'The Unknown Woman' in all my paintings even when she is not actually represented. She represents our Soul's calling us out of the darker side of our inner state, especially with the political, social, and environmental issues activated at this time."
Stephen's current work is a play on the alchemical notion of 'as above, so below,' which he applies to Carl Jung's idea that our outer world is a reflection of our inner state. His series "Of Sky and Earth" is a tribute to John Ruskin's "Of Truth of Sky" and his deepest concerns for the environment and the future of the world.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Cambridge Arts Council, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Grossmont College, El Cajon, California
Marjorie Hyde, El Cajon, CA
Betsy Fox, New York, CA
Jean Victor, San Francisco, CA
Lisa Victor, San Francisco, CA
Deanne Solomon, Ph.D. and Paul Winnemore, Esq., Los Angeles, CA
Angela and John Witherspoon, Los Angeles, CA
Mounean Banker, Palm Springs, CA
Mr. and Mrs. Jules Diamond, Palm Desert, CA
Michael Margolis and Michelle Janczewski, Los Angeles, CA
Debra Ladner Fink, Los Angeles, CA
Linda Meir, Atlanta, GA
Lois P. Jones, Los Angeles, CA
Helder Cardoso Silveira, MD, Campinas, SP, Brasil
Steven Nathan, La Jolla, CA
Mary Garvey and Ken Horst, Santa Fe, NM
Pollyanna Talisse, Las Flores, CA
Rick and Kathabela Wilson, Pasadena, CA
Jana Koroczynsky, Palm Desert, CA Duda Clementimo, Sao Paulo, Brasil REVIEWS and INTERVIEWS Planet Shifter Magazine, Conversation with Stephen Linsteadt and Willi Paul, Sept 2015 Colorado Boulevard, Mapping the Artist: Stephen Linsteadt, Kathabela Wislon, April 2015 Cider Press Review, Woman in Metaphor, Ed Bennett, March 2015 Love, Live, Forgive: Insights from Artists, Justin St. Vincent, June 2014 Planet Shifter Magazine, Creative Alchemy, Sept 2010 Los Angeles Times, Objects With Eccentricities, Joseph Woodard, March 6, 1997 Los Angeles Times, Attraction of Opposites, Nancy Kapitanoff, December 18, 1992 Stephen's work seeks to draw attention to humanity's role in the destruction of Nature and her inhabitants. At the same time, his details enrich our eyes and soul with 'abstract peripherals' that masterfully compose the work!
When I received the invitation to Stephen Linsteadt's art show and lecture entitled "Alice in Quantumland," I knew that it was a show I didn't want to miss. I have been interested in quantum physics for years, but have struggled to understand the concepts. Seeing the documentary, “What the Bleep do we Know” was somewhat helpful, but the idea that art was involved in the equation peeked my curiosity. I was not disappointed with what I experienced. Before the lecture, my friends and I joked with Stephen about his topic and let him know that we wanted "simple.” Stephen promised to deliver and he did, way beyond our expectations.
~ Ligia Testa, Brazil
It is said that artists are prophets of what is to come down the time track of the ages, and, I believe that Stephen is one of those artists. His paintings speak to the subject of quantum physics on many levels - that of the classic story as metaphor, sacred geometry, and a fuller understanding of the question of who we are as human beings. The repeated use of the triangle and other geometric figures, as well as his choice of colors, give much meaning to the concepts of what some people refer to as the "new physics." Whether one is an artist or a lover of art, a physicist, an anthropologist, or a student of the human psyche, this is a show and lecture not to be overlooked.
~ Kay Selzer, Palm Springs