Tristan Dirk Stamm was born and raised in Massachusetts outside of Boston. He graduated from Marlboro College with a BA in Visual Arts and Environmental Studies. He currently works and lives in Portland, Maine.
My artistic work is greatly influenced by my background in the natural sciences, using biological systems as the underlying framework in many of my pieces. By exploring personal issues through a scientific lens, I hope to not only better understand my own struggles and obsessions with sexuality and masculinity, but to also question preconceived societal norms surrounding power structures and gender.
FEATURED WORK
“There is no end or purpose to existence, only ceaseless creation and destruction, governed entirely by chance.“ said Stephen Greenblatt, paraphrasing Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things in The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
The chance that a saguaro seedling will survive to adulthood is almost non-existent. First, the seed has to find its way into the shade of another plant, manage to survive months of dryness while only being able to store a couple of drops of water, and stay warm enough not to freeze during cold winter nights. The seedling must deal with these challenges for anywhere between 38 to 135 years. The probability that a saguaro survives to adulthood is so slim that the forests of 60 ft tall saguaros in the Sonoran Desert seem like they shouldn’t exist.
My work explores the chance of survival, the probability of existence, a struggle with unpredictability, specifically those surrounding the human body, coming to terms with control, power, and lack there of, and the likelihood of producing something complete or finished. These themes are questioned through building a surface out of layers, pulling forms from the background, accenting particular moments, and by the use of previously conceived societal frameworks and images.
TRISTAN STAMM’s C.V. (resume)
EDUCATION
BA 2013 – Marlboro College, Visual Arts and Environmental Studies, Graduated with Highest Honors
AWARDS, GRANTS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
2013 – The Helen W. Clark Prize, Marlboro College
– The Buck Turner Prize, Marlboro College
2012 – Senior Plan Support Award, Marlboro College
2009-2013 – Trustees’ Merit Scholarship, Marlboro College
– Margaret A. Cargill Foundation Student Research Support Grant, Marlboro College
SOLO SHOWS
2013 – Reflections on the Nature of Survival, Drury Gallery, Marlboro, VT
GROUP SHOWS
2014 Shoot and Tell, StoneCrop Gallery, York, ME
– All About Colors, Arterie Fine Arts, Naperville, IL
– Insta-Artist, Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Art Center, Solomons, MD
– Art Via Post: Anything Goes, Cambridge/Boston, MA
– Eros: Expressions of Desire, A/NT Gallery, Seattle, WA
– Free 4 All, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME
2013 – Brent Birnbaum’s IIIX9MEOW, SPACE Gallery, Portland, ME
PUBLICATIONS
2014 – Debi Oulu, “Interview with Artist Tristan Stamm,” Contemporary Penis Art, May 2014
– In My Bed Magazine: Sex Toys, Volume 4 Issue 4, Toronto, Canada, May 2014
– Annie Malamet, “Artist Spotlight: Dirk Stamm,” Posture, February 2014
2013 – Potash Hill: The Magazine of Marlboro College, Winter 2013, photograph by Noah Woods, Marlboro, VT, Winter 2013, back cover.
Contact Tristan at tstamm@marlboro.edu or visit his website.
View the ceramic artists list.
