Karen Stamper

Salvage Series

Salvage Series 2023
Salvage Series

Salvage Series 2023
Drawing
Slight becoming moderate to rough

Slight becoming moderate to rough 101 cm x 101 cm Paper collage and acrylic on canvas SOLD

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About me

Growing up on the east coast of Yorkshire as a happy beachcomber, I was attracted to the faded painted wood, scraps of gaudy plastic, brightly coloured fishing floats and nets: all sun dried, sand blasted, salted and weathered.

At Art College I was immediately drawn to the dense flat colours of silk screen printing. It was on a travel scholarship that I saw Matisse’s cut-outs for the first time; it was the scale of his work, the intensity, the pin holes, crease lines and torn edges that fired my imagination.

What I do

I draw, collage and paint. My work celebrates the worn surfaces and structures of the urban; coastal shoreline, harbours, boats. I capture the essence of a subject and the sense of human presence, echoing the passing of time, Increasingly there is a strong abstract element but still with recognisable elements

The act of layering, cutting, distressing, dissembling is integral to each composition’s character and personality. As I construct and deconstruct, more stripped back dynamic compositions reveal themselves. Each piece becomes cheekier and more defiant; they jut and spill out of the frame: shapes expand, stretch, reach, teeter and balance.

How I do it

I begin in a spontaneous way with mark making from observation; collaging and drawing in sketchbooks. Back in my studio many hours are spent deliberating over arrangements of found and painted paper shapes, edges and surfaces.

I combine found papers with layers of painted paper and water-based paint to create an integrated surface.This is constructed and deconstructed many times; scratched, sanded, repainted, recut, until a patchwork of urban marks and worn surfaces bond together and a sense of unity and design develops As this collage work has developed it has become increasingly physical, moving from paper to wooden panels.

Why I do it

I am an artist and traveller. My subject in all its playful, no nonsense toughness has been with me for a long time

The worn and weathered goes beyond the inspiration of the boatyard to talk of time, history and impermanence. Patching, fixing, building and making were all ingrained in me from my childhood in a family home of recycle, repair and make good.

It is in this practical subject and its tiny details that I see beauty.