KOKI ARTS
1-15-2 Higashi-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0031
KOKI ARTS is pleased to announce Damian Stamer's first solo exhibition in Japan, Returning. This exhibition will showcase 14 new paintings from a series based on images connected to the artist's recollection of his childhood memories. Stamer’s work has previously been exhibited in 2 group exhibitions at the gallery (2016, 2014).
Stamer's paintings explore the concept of time, memory, and home. Many of his paintings depict images of barns and abandoned buildings, which are reminiscent of his childhood in North Carolina. As the figuration and abstraction in Stamer's work visualize the concept of memory, the paintings in this exhibition also share the theme of returning, or seeing something repeatedly over a long period of time. Stamer states that "everything is constantly changing, and through prolonged engagement with the subject, previously unseen realities or possibilities emerge." It is perhaps this universal experience of impermanence that allows one to wonder about the meaning of existing.
DAMIAN STAMER (b.1982) received his BFA from Arizona State University (summa cum laude) in 2007, and his MFA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013. He also studied abroad at the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart, Germany and at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary. Stamer lives and works in Durham, North Carolina. He has exhibited extensively in the US and internationally in countries such as Germany, Hungary, Japan, Taiwan, and the UAE. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Craven Allen Gallery (2019), SOCO Gallery (2018, 2016), Michael Schultz Gallery (2016, 2014), and Sherrick & Paul (2015); group shows at Rewaq Gallery, University of Sharjah (2019), Jack Shainman Gallery (2017), Michael Schultz Gallery (2017), and KOKI ARTS (2016); and museum shows at CAM Raleigh (2019), The Gibbes Museum of Art (2016), the North Carolina Museum of Art (2016), and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University (2015).