LoftLifemag

Alien Art Invades The Stacks

After our feature on The Stacks at Fulton Cotton Mill, our Atlanta editor (and writer of the article), Katie Black returned to the loft community to talk to artists in residence there.

Black met first with John Stephenson, a much-travelled artist who makes “lit sculptures.” Stephenson explains his fascination with industrial material, how his art embodies a nostalgic essence, and why The Stacks is an integral part of his work. Stephenson’s work will be displayed next at the Hotel des Arts in San Francisco starting this September.

LoftLife: Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one?

John Stephenson: I am an artist because it runs in the family, and because I find that making art satisfies a half-understood need to create and make value out of the detritus of our culture… I owned a succession of antique cars, mostly Volkswagens, that I did mechanical work on and painted myself, which I think was an initial step toward a fascination with vehicular and industrial material as a source for art… and as the designs of the pieces came into focus I incorporated lighting and used working auto lights in the designs. Today I continue to expand a repertoire of lit sculpture designs built with ancient pieces collected over time.

LL: Could you tell us some more about your work?

JS: I have called my recent works “Combines” since they reconfigure disparate elements, and as lit sculptures, they combine art and functionality. In these works, I recycle automobile light and electric parts, dating from the 1930s to 1960s, into new forms.

In my current work I combine biomorphic (human, aquatic, avian, insect) references with modernist era futuristic fantasies about the power of the machine and air and space exploration, and extraterrestrial life forms inspired by sci-fi movies. My work is in one sense a nostalgic, and humorous, homage to the cult of the car and American industry of the past: these elements were mass-produced yet are beautifully crafted, and represent a peak period of optimism and prosperity in American culture.

LL: How does living at The Stacks inspire you as an artist?

JS: My work concerns the relationship between a past that is inaccessible in time but is still very much with us in its physical manifestations. This is the case also with the Stacks Lofts: a factory begun in the nineteenth century, over the ruins of a munitions plant destroyed in the Civil War, this location had a deep history even a century ago. I also found in the Stacks a great circle of artists and creative people, who have been supportive and inspirational in my work. We will have an artists’ open house event here at the Stacks this December, where I and others will feature our work in our homes.

LL: What other interests do you have outside of your art?

JS: My studies in ancient Roman and Egyptian art and architecture have taken me repeatedly to about thirteen countries in the Middle East, Europe and north Africa. For my dissertation research I visited and documented with video the ancient monuments, especially palaces and villas, that remain in these areas. While abroad I have also collected and accumulated a quantity of ethnic and ancient art, which looks great in the Roman flavored interiors of the Stacks!