Stephen is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA), and the Tyler School of Art (MFA). He would eventually spend 15 years commuting between the US and SouthEast Asia. It was there that a fascination emerged with the use of indigenous materials in building.

In addition to major ephemeral installations at the Storm King Art Center, he did floating installations at the Denver Botanic Gardens and Manitoga, the Russel Wright House in Garrison NY. In addition to a permanent all timber frame structure at the Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, he has built temporary indoor sets for performance at Tippet Rise, Architektur Galerie Berlin, and will create floating structures for the next Curitiba Biennale in Brazil at the Oscar Niemeyer Museum. His drawings are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY); The Albertina, (Vienna); the Pompedeu (Paris); National Gallery of Art (Washington DC); and the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin to name a few.

He continues to build and draw in NYC.

“Working at the Buffalo Creek Art Center afforded me the opportunity to work in a challenging natural environment; a place with unique characteristics that compelled me as a Land Artist to examine the potential of ephemeral art.
Every location possesses something different; whether it’s topography, climate, the logistical unknowns; even time, and available resources.
It is the responsibility of the Land Artist to inventory “potential”; to exploit conditions that enhance or challenge the process. The Artist must respond and react to the Land, negotiating and adjusting in an attempt to extract an inner beauty that each site can encapsulate .
The land at Buffalo Creek is such a place; it offers a playful dialogue between artist and imagination, it provides “ephemeral” with that rare opportunity to examine the challenges and rewards of the unexpected within the natural world.”

– Stephen Talasnik