Stephen Kaltenbach

2004

Book, 15.1 x 22.9 cm, 281 p, language: English, publisher: Maitland, Florida: Xulon Press, ISBN: 1594677689.
Materials: ink, paper

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2025/226).

Literary synopsis

The End is the story of the end of the world and a band of survivors who are trapped in a near future Los Angeles after a series of mysterious and devastating disasters. This is the account of their journey, which is one of self-discovery as well as escape. As they face ever-increasing danger, they begin to understand that theirs is a battle against the principalities and powers of darkness. They realize that they need divine assistance to prevail. God provides not only help but also the information that they must have for the survival of their souls.

Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice

''One of Kaltenbach’s most recent works, The End, is a novel about the rapture at the end of the world. An edition of one hundred was stamped with a STEPHEN J. KALTENBACH inkpad signature that is itself canceled by another, superimposed: CECI N’EST PAS UN AUTEUR. The bio on back of the book discloses, “He has been a Christian since 1979”. I have trouble not reading it all as an allegory for the art world’s machinations and as reason to reconsider the influence of the underacknowledged and left behind. In the lingo of his heyday: heavy.''

-Bruce Hainley

Novel's website