20
|
Food & Wine
•
2009
His work – like his life – is about resilience. On one level, it is about the endurance
of art. He breathes fresh life into his influences, from the old French ads to the surreal
fairy tales of Maxfield Parrish. But they reach deeper than homage. Stamey's specific
experiences provide a distinct gift for uncovering the magical in the everyday.
Up close, his pieces are stunning. Characters are captured with the crackled flesh
of vintage dolls, taken down from their shelves and allowed a flash of privacy. Gazing
at them is a guilty pleasure, revealing the intrinsic beauty of the human condition
through its cracks. His women and children are cloaked in autumn, changing colors
and stripping away trappings in an ultimate act of renewal.
Growing up, Stamey's parents were generous with simple comforts – eye
Text lends many of his pieces the same feeling of
being ripped from a children's book – moments
that exist somewhere as part of a larger narrative.
Stamey's art is not so much intended for
children as it is to transport adults back to
the wonders and fears of childhood.
