Bridgette Mayer Gallery presents:
“A little past Lake Michie,” a solo exhibition by Damian Stamer February 2 – 27, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, February 5, 6-8pm
PHILADELPHIA – Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to announce its first solo exhibition with new gallery artist Damian Stamer: “A little past Lake Michie.” The exhibition features a series of brand new paintings by the artist that examine the landscape Stamer explored as a child growing up in rural North Carolina. His works are inspired by memories, where representations of abandoned barns reference the rustic countryside of his youth, but the blurry, abstracted manner in which they are painted evoke how these memories have faded over time. Upon first glance, the paintings’ gestural brushstrokes tend to obscure the subject matter, but closer inspection allows the viewer to appreciate the carefully rendered details of his landscapes. The dark, painterly surfaces of his works and the way he engages with photography reveal the influence of such painters as Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter.
Stamer has held solo exhibitions at Galerie Michael Schultz, Berlin, Germany; Freight + Volume Gallery, New York, NY; and Sherrick & Paul, Nashville, TN among others. His recent group exhibitions include the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC; Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC; and Koki Arts, Tokyo, Japan. He will also be showing in a two-person exhibition, “Altered Land: Works by Damian Stamer and Greg Lindquist,” at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh from April 16 – September 11, 2016. Stamer’s works have been featured in Modern Painters, New American Paintings, and Art Magazine (Germany). He received his MFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013 and his BFA from Arizona State University in 2007. He also studied at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts as a Fulbright grantee, and the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart, Germany as a Rotary Ambassadorial scholar.
This exhibition will be accompanied by a special installation entitled “The Tempest and the Teapot” in the Project Vault Space by Philadelphia artist Michael Stifel. Stifel received his MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999 and his BFA from The College of Wooster in 1994. He has exhibited nationally, including group shows at The Print Center and The Icebox in Philadelphia, PA and Ohio State University in Merion, OH.