“Wozniak’s works are masterpieces of Zen art—abstract constructions, both two-dimensional and three-dimensional, a state that suggests their rich inner meaning and intrinsic value, which is deeply spiritual.”
— Donald Kuspit, art critic and author of Robert Morris: Works of the Eighties, Alex Katz: Night Paintings and Eric Fischl Paintings.
Stephen Wozniak creates art about personal identity, perception, belief, memory and the objects that reflect our formative history, which also offers a place of meditation for audiences to review and dispel their complex lives. He primarily works in wood, solid surfaces, cabinet hardware and fine finishes. His artwork has been exhibited internationally in the Bradbury Art Museum, Cameron Art Museum, Leo Castelli Gallery at Brenau University, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Moses Lake Museum and Art Center, Il Museo Colle del Duomo and Lincoln Center, among others. He is also a professional motion picture and television actor who has performed principal roles in the network series NCIS: Los Angeles, Star Trek: Enterprise and as ‘Jesus’ in the double Emmy Award-nominated television special Beyond the Da Vinci Code. He and his work have been featured in The Washington Post Magazine, Variety, Chicago Sun-Times and other periodicals. He is also a published author on the arts who has written for the Observer, Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art and BmoreArt, among others. He has also written exhibition catalog essays for Miles McEnery Gallery, Stony Brook University and other commercial and institutional exhibition venues. Stephen co-hosted the performing arts weekly series Center Stage on KXLU radio in Los Angeles and guest hosts Art World: The Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art podcast in New York City. His artworks are held in numerous private and public permanent collections. Stephen was born in Dover, New Hampshire and raised in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Stephen formally studied visual fine art, performance art and art history. He earned a B.F.A. from Maryland Institute College of Art, as well as attended The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California, and maintains a studio practice in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Artist Statement
“Your true home is in the here and the now.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
– George Augustus Moore
My art is an invitation to act. It offers an exploration of ideas about our subjective perception, evolving memory, personal identity and principal relationships. Objects all around us, charged with the meaning of our own making, inform these concerns. We’re always looking for answers, however, our life is much more than arresting anxieties by conquering questions. While my art addresses abiding spiritual, sociological and philosophical ideas, it also provides a space for the concrete, grounding and essential human experience of phenomenon. Though it is important to expand our consciousness and development, it is imperative that we always gain a foothold in the present and accept the unknown of the future. I hope that my artwork acts as a catalyst for this personal change.
My work appears simple and spare in many ways. It’s routinely made of wood, hardware and paint, which is rigorously shaped and refined into highly unified, largely symmetric pieces. I pay strict attention to the details and finish of the individual artworks I create, so viewers can experience them as a whole. At the same time, I enjoy the relaxed Zen quality of repeated sanding and paint applications leading up to their completion, which connects me with these objects. I often use common residential building materials and interior design elements to open a pathway for viewers to explore their formative history in the work. I sometimes reorient these components in an unexpected manner to help audiences recognize a moment of metamorphosis, excepting the practical use initially assigned to these items. This acts to develop an analogy about the transformation of their memory, ideas, identity and social value over time. My artwork ultimately offers a place of contemplation and meditation for viewers as both a point of alliance and departure to review and dispel their complex lives.
Born
1971 Dover, New Hampshire, U.S.A.
Education
1993 B.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
1991 Undergraduate Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Honors
2020
Award Winner of Abstract Only! 10th Annual Exhibition, Wailoa Center, curated by Codie King, Hilo, Hawaii
1992
First Prize Winner and payment award for the National ’92 Small Works Exhibition, Schoharie County Arts Council Gallery, curated by Dan Cameron (New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York), Cobleskill, New York
Selected Exhibitions
2024
Explorations in Monochromatic Art, Arts Benecia, Curated by Leah Rosenburg, Benecia, California, March 16 – April 28
This is the Future of Non-Objective Art, Atlantic Gallery, Curated by Suzan Shutan, New York, New York, February 13 – March 2
2023
National Juried Painting Exhibition 2023, The University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, juried by Ken Weathersby, October 3 – November 9
restART, Sala Ex Pinacoteca, Assisi, Italy, curated by Adelinda Allegra, September 15 – 24
2022
2022 Pacific States Biennial North American printmaking exhibition, University of Hawai’i at Hilo, curated by Yuji Hiratsuka, November 4 – December 31
Floating in the Water, ArteSpazioTempo gallery, curated by Adelinda Allegretti, Venice, Italy, May 25 – June 9
Act Natural, Berlin Collectiv, curated by Stephen Wozniak, virtual exhibition and New York, New York, May 20 – June 18
Art Matters 5, Galerie Biesenbach, curated by Stéphane Biesenbach, virtual exhibition and Cologne, Germany, April 9 – April 24
State of the Art/Art of the State, Cameron Art Museum, curated by Dr. Maia Nuku, Alejo Benedetti and Michael Rooks, Wilmington, North Carolina, April 9 – October 9
Landscape: Inside and All Around Me, Il Museo Colle del Duomo, curated by Adelinda Allegretti, Viterbo, Italy, February 19 – March 5
Landscape: Inside and All Around Me, Carlo D’Orta Art Gallery, curated by Adelinda Allegretti, Rome, Italy, January 20 – 30
2021
Illumination, Cameron Art Museum, curated by Bob Unchester, Wilmington, North Carolina, December 3, 2021 – January 9, 2022
Contemporary Art Survey, The Lincoln Center, curated by Todd Underwood and Zoey Frank, Fort Collins, Colorado, November 10, 2021 – January 8, 2022
Art Matters 4, Galerie Biesenbach, curated by Stéphane Biesenbach, virtual exhibition and Cologne, Germany, October 17 – 31
Nerd Alert, Moses Lake Museum and Art Center, curated by Dollie Boyd, Moses Lake, Washington, August 20 – September 23
The Fall of Civilization, Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, curated by Alicia Eggert and Linda Cullum, Lubbock, Texas, August 6 – September 25
You Are Here Now, Berlin Collectiv, curated by Nicole Cohen, virtual exhibition and New York, New York, June 6 – August 6
Insight, Cape Cod Museum of Art, curated by Grace Hopkins, Dennis, Massachusetts, March 18 – June 20
All Abstract, 311 Gallery, curated by Lakeshia Reid and Kenneth Proseus, Raleigh, North Carolina, March 5 – 26
2020
Illumination, Cameron Art Museum, curated by Bob Unchester, Wilmington, North Carolina, November 20, 2020 – January 10, 2021
Abstract Only! 10th Annual Exhibition, Wailoa Center, Hawaii Island Art Alliance, curated by Codie King, Hilo, Hawaii, October 2 – 27
Authentic Marks’ 3rd International Miniature Printmaking Exhibition, Zayed University, curated by Shaghaf Group, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 27 – September 5
L.A. Stories, Leo Castelli Gallery, Brenau University, curated by Paul Paiement, Gainesville, Georgia, February 13, 2020 – May 31, 2021
2020 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition, Bradbury Art Museum, curated by Gretchen L. Wagner, Jonesboro, Arkansas, January 23 – February 29
2019
Illumination, Cameron Art Museum, curated by Holly Tripman Fitzgerald, Wilmington, North Carolina, December 7, 2019 – January 12, 2020
1993
So It Is Written, Ward-Nasse Gallery, New York, New York, December 1 – 23
Annual Regional Film and Video Makers Showcase, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, May 3 – June 3
1992
National ’92 Small Works Exhibition, Schoharie County Arts Council Gallery, curated by Dan Cameron, Cobleskill, New York, May 29 – July 10
1991
First Annual Hair Ball Exhibition, Maryland Art Place, hosted by John Waters, Baltimore, Maryland, April 27 – May 11
Publications
2024
Colburn, Martha, “This is the Future of Non-Objective Art at Atlantic Gallery in New York City.” Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, March 2024. Retrieved from This is the Future of Non-Objective Art at Atlantic Gallery in New York City
2023
“Landscape: Inside and All Around Me # 3.” Eventi della Tuscia, February 17, 2022. Retrieved from Landscape: Inside and All Around Me #3.
2020
Quintana, Kelly, “Stephen Wozniak: Remembering Home.” Art of the Times, Winter 2020: 12-13. Print and online. Retrieved from Stephen Wozniak: Remembering Home.
Wisniewski, John, “Spotlight on Stephen Wozniak: Conceptual Artist and Actor.” AMFM Magazine, November 2020. Retrieved from Spotlight on Stephen Wozniak: Conceptual Artist and Actor.
Mino, Ylenia, “Meet the Los Angeles-based Conceptual Artist Stephen Wozniak.” Artiholics Magazine, October 2020. Retrieved from Meet the Los Angeles-based Conceptual Artist Stephen Wozniak.
Parker, Samantha, “Stephen Wozniak: A Simple Place in Life.” Noah Becker’s Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, March 2020. Retrieved from Stephen Wozniak: A Simple Place in Life.
Wagner, Gretchen L., 2020 “Delta National Small Prints Exhibition” catalog, Bradbury Art Museum. Print.
1992
Cameron, Dan, “National ’92 Small Works” exhibition catalog, Fourteenth Edition Exhibition Directory, The Exhibit Planners, Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Print.
As Published Author
Acts as a current freelance and contributing author to numerous arts publications, including Observer, Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, BmoreArt and others.
Click on this link to read Stephen Wozniak’s work as a published author
As Podcast Host
2022
Guest hosted the popular visual arts podcast, Art World: The Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Click on this link to listen to podcasts hosted by Stephen Wozniak
As Radio Host
2001-2002
Co-hosted KXLU’s weekly radio program Center Stage, which featured lively in-depth discussions with motion picture, television, live theatre and creative multi-media guests.
Artist Presentations
2019
Noon Lecture series on fine art and acting at Maryland Institute College of Art, Fred Lazarus IV Center, Baltimore, Maryland, April 29, 2019
2014
Lecture on fine art and acting, Albertus Magnus Schule, Vienna, Austria, October 21, 2014.
Teaching Experience
2019
Visiting artist, undergraduate critiques, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland, March 4 and 11, 2019
Professional Experience
1991
The Baltimore Museum of Art, researcher for chief curator Jan Howard, Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Baltimore, Maryland
Membership
Member of the international artist network Berlin Collectiv.
Collections
David Cronenberg
Ross Bleckner
Sandy Skoglund
Ken Lum
Brenau University
Elsa Smithgall
Timothy R. Rodgers, PhD
Phoebe Hoban
Ray Cronin
Kelcey Edwards
Liz Magor
Martha Colburn
Jacqueline Cedar
Dr. Joyce Tsai
Pat O’Neill
Dan Cameron
Jan Howard
Chris Hanley
Rick Royale
Olivier Fuller
Earl Miller
Dr. Patrick T. Vargas
Rob Walker
Erik Hedegaard
Richard Pasquarelli
Annika Peterson
Eve Ackroyd
Rob Strati
Dr. Csilla Veress
Jason McLean
Kanika Anand
Daniel Borins
Jennifer Marman
Miles McEnery
David Allan Peters
Noah Becker
Becky Brown
Ken Weathersby
John O’Connor
Nicole Cohen
Magnus Resch
Dr. Lance Hutchens
Doris Schamp
Shaghaf Group
Nichole Rawlings
Dr. Christian Lerch
Leela Grant
Dr. Peter Sultana
Dr. Alan Goldhamer
Lauryn Cantrell
Andy Scott Ladson
Bailey Placzek
Terryn Westbrook and Jon Button
Paul Paiement and Janice Paiement
Alan Heitz and Leah Verrill Heitz
Dr. Edward Denkin
Howie Lee Weiss
Seth Hunter
Isabelle Puleo Yerger
Sharon Spencer
Lincoln Center