Pourtensious Lighting is the functional sculpture of Eric M. Sternfels.
The artist/architect who creates these clever pieces, seeks not just to amuse those
who see his work, but to steer focus onto the handsome form and design of the everyday
vessels of bygone days. Orphaned cups and kettles, percolators and plates are joined
into harmonious tableaus of American domesticity. The results are curiously both
classic and funky. The lighting is at home in both traditional and contemporary spaces.
Eric M. Sternfels' work springs from a sense that inanimate objects possess their
own soul and history. When speaking about the pieces he collects for his work, the
artist believes the energy of those that designed or made them, of those that have
used and enjoyed them, and of those that now take the time to see them again in new
light all collaborate to give us pleasure and satisfaction.
Perhaps this philosophy was born when, as a young boy, Eric was given the household
chore of dusting the bookshelves and china cabinets. After swiping a dust cloth around
the objects, his mother explained that each thing must be picked up and dusted as
well. And to emphasize the care with which these special items needed to be handled,
she methodically told him the history of each cup, saucer, candlestick and bookend.
Whether about where or how the objects were made, or who had given or purchased these
objects, Eric had a new appreciation for what had previously been "the Untouchables"
in the family living room.
Eric's paternal grandfather, a postman in Bronx, NY also contributed to the artist's
sensibilities as well through an extensive collection of postmarked stamps. Knowing
his grandpa asked his neighbors for the unwanted envelopes when he spied handsome
stamps along his delivery route made the developing artist consider the individual
histories of the stamps. Each was designed by someone, printed by someone, sold by
someone, licked by someone, sent to someone else on a business or personal mission,
and ultimately put once more into the mailbox for the gentle, stamp-collecting postman.
Sternfels' two-dimensional collages incorporate these stamps along with artisan papers
and ribbons into quilt-like compositions. He also incorporates vintage prints from
children's literature into collage compositions, as well.
Mr. Sternfels' artistic education expanded to a Masters degree in Architecture from
the University of Pennsylvania. Here, he refined his design skills and developed
his historical perspective on patterns and styles. In Eric's view, the making of
Architecture - like his collages and light sculptures - requires the skillful blending
of carefully selected components into compositions that delight and satisfy us.
Remaining in Philadelphia, the artist lives in an historic mill workers home (ca.
1840) and works in a renovated textile mill (ca. 1880) with dozens of professional
and amateur artists and craftsmen.
[ www.MillStudios.org ]
