Michael Stephen
Omen (edition 3), 2017 – ongoing, incinerated VHS cassettes and diamond dust cast into a rose, 26 x 9 x 3”
Describe your artistic style in three words.
Psychotronic, alchemical, ritualistic
What's inspiring you right now?
Materiality. Working with an object or a material that I've never used before, or even considered workable, has a way of inspiring myself to think outside the scope of normalcy. Materials are something that's been an ally, now more than ever, in our current pandemic world.
What do you do when you're feeling uninspired?
Ebay. Never a dull moment when you search "bizarre" or "weird" objects in its search engine.
Tell us something unique about your process.
My process and techniques are kinda all over the place.
I've casted and manipulated everything from wisdom teeth to dirt, to incinerated VHS cassette tapes. Lately, I've been casting pocket- sized items, like coins and toy collectables, out of various discarded and abandoned materials to create new autonomous relics, provoking a meditation on the objects’ latent symbolism and associative content. I've also been experimenting and working on a series of iconographic images that are scratch and sniff scented works, each with a unique and uncanny surprise.
So yea, again, kinda all over the place.
What advice do you have for other artists?
Understand that failure is the process of growth. Fail, and fail often. Those moments will teach you more about who you are and what you are capable of than any one success ever will.
Anything else you'd like to share?
Since 2018, I've been working on a continual traveling exhibition, stemming from one magical night at Walter de Maria's most important and influential Land Art work, The Lightning Field. From that experience, 4 artists, 1 curator and myself created a body of work, titled Thunderstruck, that has traveled from NYC to Portland, OR. If you want to learn more about that project or buy our limited edition artist's book, visit the website of my beautiful wife and collaborator, jessiditillio.com/thunderstruck.
Serpent and the Rainbow, 2019, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake with silver-plated rattle, Hudson Bay Company wool blanket (1970’s), 36 x 36 x 48”
Serpent and the Rainbow (detail), 2019, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake with silver-plated rattle, Hudson Bay Company wool blanket (1970’s), 36 x 36 x 48”
Box Set, 2018, VHS clear jacket cases from Blockbuster Video, carved fossilized Jet wood (lignite), incinerated VHS cassettes of an honest grouping of horror films: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Lady in White (1988), The Howling (1981), Jaws (1975), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Cujo (1983), Frankenstein (1931), King Kong (1933), Arachnophobia (1990), Swamp Thing (1982), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Dracula (1931), Fright Night (1985), Psycho (1960), The Shining (1980), The Fly (1986), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), The Exorcist (1973), It (1990), Alien (1979), Poltergeist (1982), Child’s Play (1988), Pet Sematary (1989), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Misery (1990), The Birds (1963), The Thing (1982), Aliens (1986), Carrie (1976), Creepshow (1982), The Lost Boys (1987), Gremlins (1984), Videodrome (1982), Candyman (1992), Hellraiser (1987), The Omen (1976), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), House (1986), Evil Dead (1981), Children of the Corn (1984), Evil Dead 2 (1987), Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Urban Legend (1998), Event Horizon (1997), They Live (1988), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), My Bloody Valentine (1981), Amityville Horror (1979), Seven (1995), The Blair Witch Project (1998), In the Mouth of Madness (1994), Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), The Last House on the Left (1972), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), I Spit on Your Grave (1978), Brain Dead (1992), Re-Animator (1985), Freaks (1932), Peeping Tom (1960), The Wicker Man (1973), Bloody Birthday (1981), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), Black Christmas (1974), The Slumber Party Massacre (1982), Maniac (1981), Suspiria (1977), Dementia 13 (1963), The Fog (1979), April Fools Day (1986), Nightbreed (1990), The Prowler (1981), Prom Night (1980), Sleep Away Camp (1983), C.H.U.D. (1984), The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), Don’t Open Till Christmas (1984), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Maniac Cop (1988), Alice Sweet Alice (1976), Initiation (1984), Sorority House Massacre (1986), Cheerleader Camp (1987), The Toolbox Murders (1978), The Mutilator (1985), Nosferatu (1922), Curtains (1983), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1960), Phantom of the Opera (1925), Offerings (1989), Repulsion (1965), Jacob’s Ladder (1990), Nail Gun Massacre (1985), Cannibal Holocaust (1979), The Fun House (1981), Carnival of Souls (1962), The Changeling (1979), Alone in the Dark (1982), Demons (1985), When a Stranger Calls (1979), Phantasm (1979) and diamond dust recast into VHS cassettes, 10 x 16 x 12”
Special Edition, 2018, issue #1 of FANGORIA Magazine (1979) plated in solid gold, 11 x 8 1/2 x 1/4”
(left) Samatha (pocket magick #2), 2020, pocket lint cast into a Monster in my Pocket (1989) collectable
(right) Frank (pocket magick #1), 2019, Pulverized Fulgurite (fossilized lightning) cast into a Monster in my Pocket (1989) collectible
(left) Vestige, 2018, Pulverized wisdom teeth cast into a penny, 3/4 x 3/4”
[RIGHT] Walter, 2019, Dirt from The Lightning Field cast into a Mercury Dime, 1/2 x 1/2”
Untitled (Final Exit #1), 2020, Scratch-n-Sniff image on white acrylic, 16 x 24” (framed)
Artists's studio table with work in progress
Michael E. Stephen is an artist working in the field of sculpture and video. His work examines and archives our idiosyncratic relationship with nostalgia and the act of ritual.
Michael lives and works in Austin, TX and is a selected artist accepted into The Contemporary Austin’s 2020 Crit Group program.