Former Lawyer Turned Artist Geoffrey Stein Joins the Elisabeth Haub School of Law as Artist-in-Residence

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The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University will welcome renowned portrait and collage artist Geoffrey Stein as Artist-in-residence this Spring. The residency is the law school’s first official year-long program of its kind, providing enrichment and educational opportunities for both law and art students at Pace University.

Stein will begin his residency at Haub Law on February 10, 2022, utilizing space in a common area on the 3^rd floor of the Gerber Glass Library each Thursday to showcase his process. He will also have access to the collections of the Library for research and inspiration. The Artist-in-residence will conclude in Spring 2023 with a public lecture, painting demonstration and exhibition of the work completed during the residency period, which will draw inspiration from the people of Haub Law and its rich history.

“We are thrilled to welcome Geoffrey to Haub Law and to be part of this unique experience at a law school. Drawing on his legal background, Geoffrey’s art captures the meaning behind historical moments, political and influential figures by using the work product of his subjects,” said Horace E. Anderson Jr, Dean and Professor of Law at Haub Law. “Not only will we liven our campus with art, but this will be an opportunity to reflect on and memorialize Haub Law’s history.”

Geoffrey Stein is a self-proclaimed “recovering lawyer” who has been painting full-time since 2000. He received his law degree from Albany Law School in 1986, then clerked for an appellate court and practiced reinsurance litigation work for Lloyd's of London and London Market Reinsurers at Sheft & Sheft, Ober|Kaler, and later with Mendes & Mount.He says his background as a lawyer has had a huge influence on his work, both on the process and subject matter. “The organizational and critical skills required in the legal world are incredibly helpful to have when working in the more nebulous and open-ended realm of the art world. The skills necessary to organize a brief or conduct discovery translate easily to complex art projects, which often involve numerous people and more writing then I ever imagined,” says Stein. “Also, there was a strange, but nice, thing I noticed when returning to art school as an allegedly “mature” student: I was not seeking the teachers' approval, but rather simply trying to engage them in a dialogue about the work.”

Stein’s work stems from his interest in the political, financial and media worlds. He calls himself a “conceptual portrait painter” using snippets of text and photographs as the basis of his art to create the subject’s likeness and evoke meaning. His subjects include: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Queen Elizabeth, Anthony Fauci, Kamala Harris, presidents, financial icons, comics and more.

“It was a natural direction for me to try and make work about actors in these worlds, both those I admire and those I don’t,” Stein says. “Increasingly, though, I am most interested in figures whom I admire and provide some hope in this difficult time. For instance, my portrait of A.O.C. was done with copies of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's powerful speech on the House floor addressing Rep. Ted Yoho's awful comments about her. I hope I captured some of her passion and strength in my portrait.”

Stein looks forward to engaging students, faculty and staff in dialog while he works. “The point of any artist residency is to take one out of their everyday world, their comfort zone, and shake things up,” adds Stein. “I have not been in a law school on a regular basis since graduating 35 years ago. I hope that being at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law for a year will help me look at my work in new ways and inspire me to go in unimagined directions.”

Geoffrey Stein received a Certificate in painting from the New York Studio School in 2004 and an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London in 2007. He lives and paints in New York City and Westport and is represented by The Minster Gallery in the UK. Read his story in Attorney at Law Magazine or view his work at his website.