A selection of recent paintings by Midcoast Maine-based artist Jay Stern. Featuring domestic interiors in vibrant color with exaggerated nods to cubism and abstraction, Stern’s work triggers and questions memory. With his ‘Laundry Day’ series, he hopes to “document and speak to identity, both as it masks and reveals inner complexities.” He elaborates: “The man made rack serves as a reminder of the spinal and stark nature of life; something that never changes, something reliable. While the drying clothes nod to the ever-changing and fluid dance that identity plays as we move through our days.”

Stern explores the nostalgic quality of the moments that he paints by revealing specific physical attributes in these personal portraits from remembered spaces. “The paintings hold emotional narrative information, as the sculptures serve as simple documentation of physicality,” he explains. “Made from history; the work serves as both a reminder of and graceful wink toward the past.”

See more from Jay Stern below!