SHARON STAMPFER

WRITTEN BY NICOLE EMSER MARCEL

As I hold a bronze cast of the cup on the top of a candlestick that once belonged to Sharon Stampfer’s grandmother, I find myself contemplating gaps, weights, and memories. The cast, molded to fit in Stampfer’s own hand, does not exactly fit in mine. Yet, it feels right. The gleaming bronze softly spills over my thumb, belying the heft of the material. At first it is cool, even cold, but quickly acclimates to my body temperature. It momentarily transports me to my own hazy recollections and makes me nostalgic for a memory just out of reach. This is the power of Stampfer’s work. Her objects – made to be handled by the viewer – demand slow engagement and careful consideration of our interactions with each piece: how it looks, how it feels, (imagining) how it was used in the past, and perhaps most crucially, how its future use will be altered by our interaction with it.

Many of Stampfer’s works begin as experiments in either form or material. These improvisations are carefully documented and saved, forming an archival web of ideas and connections. Stampfer’s experiments are like seeds; each one may not grow into a fully formed work, but they all have a generative capacity. Her careful attention to everyday items points to the ritual aspect of our use of these objects, highlighting the ability for the seemingly mundane, such as a door handle or bowl, to serve as points of human connection. For Stampfer, this connection is cyclical. It begins with the artistic process of touch; the artist’s labor imbues the work with knowledge and feeling, which can then be imparted through our own visual and physical contacts. These interactions, between the artist and object and the viewer or the user and object, are intensely personal, richly collective, and always in flux

BOX #8 - BOX #17 (right)

Dimensions variable.

Installation view.