Stephen Talasnik was born in Philadelphia where he developed an early interest in engineering and architecture. He was intrigued with the exposed infrastructure of bridges, sports stadiums, aviation design, the architecture of amusements, and transmission towers. Attracted to the aesthetics of the inventor, his early efforts in drawing were inspired by visionary architecture. A visit to the 1964 Worlds Fair in NYC presented him with an opportunity to see models of future cities triggering a lifelong obsession with "fantastic" design. His early mentors were architects, engineers, and cinematographers. In addition to an early interest in the NASA Space Program, he was enamored with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Gustav Eiffel, Jules Verne, and Fritz Lang. Talasnik studied at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and the Tyler School of Art. At RISD, he studied with instructor - photographers Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan whose lectures on the nature of the black and white image would have a lasting impact on his own studio investigation of drawing. It was Siskind who introduced Talasnik to the graphic works of Seurat, Giocometti, and the architectural illustrations of Hugh Ferris. Later, as a graduate student at Tyler's Rome campus, Talasnik studied the work of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Piranesi, and the early 20th Century Italian Futurists. In the mid 1980's, he moved to Tokyo enabling him to travel extensively to other countries in the Far East to examine the art of hand building and engineering. He studied bamboo and reed construction in China, Thailand, Viet Nam, and The Philippines. While living in Japan, he studied contemporary Architecture and Product Design and upon completion of his time in Tokyo, he moved to New York City where he has lived since 1991. After an exclusive studio pursuit of drawing, Talasnik started making sculpture in the year 2001. Growing out of his interest in architectural model making, his early efforts depicted visionary engineering projects, in part inspired by his interest in early 20th C. Russian Avant Garde Stage Set and Architectural Design. His ongoing three-dimensional work explores the language of intuitive engineering --- continuing to expand the seamless visual and conceptual dialogue between sculpture and drawing. His work is included in numerous international public collections such as the Albertina (Vienna), British Museum (London), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), State Museum of Berlin (Germany) and the National Gallery of Art (Washington DC).