Homecoming, oil on canvas, 64 x 48, 2011

One of Stamer’s earliest interior scenes, Homecoming, is also one of the few in which the human figure prominently appears. As the title suggests, its creation coincided with his return home and enrollment in graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2011. This autobiographical depiction shows the artist in a dream-like space, his Brooklyn studio, which opens to the right onto a sweeping rural meadow with trees in the distance. The exterior landscape is reflected in the painting that hangs before the figure. It is only after we realize the figure is a self-portrait (a rarity for the artist), that we can understand the personal dimension of this work. Voyeuristically peering into this narrative scene, we are given access to a moment of existential contemplation. Homecomings are often moments of reflection in which we reckon with our past and begin to chart a course ahead. Here we can sense the figure’s trepidation as he stands between two worlds.

-Marshall Price, Chief Curator, Nasher Museum of Art

 

DAMIAN STAMER
TWINS

Statement

Twins is a deeply personal meditation on duality, reflection, and the unseen layers that define our identities. As an identical twin, I have long experienced the subtle dance between mirror and self—a relationship marked by both profound similarity and unique divergence. This exhibition transforms that lifelong dynamic into a visual exploration that delves into the psychological depths of what it means to see oneself in another.

The creative process behind Twins is as much about collaboration as it is about introspection. I began by entering a childhood memory containing the word Twins into DALL·E 2, an AI image generator, to produce reference imagery that resonates with the abstract and multifaceted nature of duplication. These images, emerging from an algorithm’s unpredictable interpretation, provided me with a reservoir of visual cues that oscillate between the familiar and the uncanny. They serve as the initial spark that informs each painting I create. Similarly, the title of each painting contains the prompt that created its reference image.

In reinterpreting these digital renderings onto panel, I embrace both meticulous technique and the spontaneity inherent in working with AI-generated forms. This dual approach mirrors the twin experience: one part deliberate human expression, the other part the unpredictable reflection of machine learning. The resulting works are layered conversations between organic memory and digital possibility, inviting viewers to contemplate not only the intimate bond between twins but also the broader dialogue between human creativity and emerging technology.

Twins thus becomes a metaphor for the multiplicity of identity in the digital era. It interrogates how our internal landscapes—shaped by shared histories, intimate bonds, and personal memories—are simultaneously mirrored and transformed by the external forces of technological innovation. In this series, the artist’s deeply sentient and intuitive brushwork stands in stark contrast to the algorithmically driven, non-sentient suggestions of an AI collaborator, creating a space where human emotion and digital computation converge and transform one another.

Engagement with these works encourages an exploration of the complex layers of selfhood, prompting questions about where one identity ends and another begins (as the boundaries between human and AI become blurrier by the minute). The reflective surface of every painted image reveals not merely a twin of some kind, but a portal to a deeper understanding of how identities are constructed in an increasingly interconnected, algorithmically influenced world.

 

 

 

PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS

 

DAMIAN STAMER   COLLABORATIONS:  NEW PAINTINGS
March 25 – May 6

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 25, 5 to 7 pm

Collaborations features both new paintings from Stamer’s continued exploration of home, memory, and place as well as a new body of work created in collaboration with Artificial Intelligence. Instead of his traditional process of using photographs as source material, Stamer used an AI text-to-image generator to compile reference imagery. The resulting oil paintings are visually striking and raise timely questions about our relationship with the digital world.

 

 

STATEMENT

As an artist, I’ve always been drawn to the concept of home and the memories and emotions that come with it. For my exhibition titled Collaborations, I continued this exploration by creating new paintings that delve into the complex relationship between memory and place. These paintings are deeply personal and invite the viewer to reflect on their own experiences with home and the passage of time.

In addition to my traditional source material, I also embarked on an exciting new collaboration with DALL-E 2, a text-to-image generator. The resulting body of work is a stunning series of oil paintings that blur the boundaries between the physical and the digital. By using AI-generated imagery as a reference, I was able to push the limits of my creative process and expand my artistic horizons in new and unexpected ways.

Through this collaboration with DALL-E 2, I sought to explore the fundamental questions of what it means to remember, to create, and to be human in our increasingly digital world. The resulting paintings are a thought-provoking commentary on the intersection of technology and creativity, and a testament to the power of collaboration to push the boundaries of artistic expression.

I hope that viewers of Collaborations will be inspired by the beauty and complexity of these works, and will come away with a renewed appreciation for the boundless potential of human creativity, both alone and in collaboration with technology.

– text generated by ChatGPT in response to prompt by the artist.

 

ABOUT DAMIAN STAMER

Damian Stamer (b. American, 1982) received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Jacob K. Javits fellow in 2013 and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Herberger Institute of Art and Design and Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University (where he studied painting with Craven Allen Gallery artist Beverly McIver) as a National Merit scholar 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.

Museum exhibitions include Ruminations, a solo show at the Gibbes Museum in Charleston; Altered Land at the North Carolina Museum of Art,  Area 919 at Duke University’s Nasher Museum.

Damian’s contemporary paintings explore themes of memory and loss through formal and conceptual approaches. Detailed architectural forms reminiscent of his childhood memories of the South are combined with gestural brushstrokes that push and pull the images into existence. The artist lives and works in Durham, North Carolina.