Cole Sternberg graduated from the Villanova School of Business in 2001 before beginning his journey as an artist. In his painting of luxury and pauperism, deep blue tendrils stretch horizontally across the linen canvas, reaching for something just beyond the edge. The swirling shades of blue and gray create the illusion of looking underwater, as though the viewer is submerged. Fittingly, this painting was featured in the campus-wide exhibition Thirsty While Drowning, which addressed the climate crisis by imagining that the university itself was submerged. Sternberg spent time on a ship as part of his artistic process, tossing his paintings into the ocean and allowing the waves to pull at the paint. In his works, nature acts as a co-conspirator, creating pieces where humanity and the environment are inextricably intertwined.

— Riley Nelson, VU student