Karen Stamper: Salvage

5 - 30 July 2025

We’re delighted to welcome Karen Stamper back to the gallery for her first solo exhibition, Salvage. After first introducing her work during our inaugural open call last year, Karen now returns with her latest body of work - a bold and playful series of collage paintings that move beyond their original inspiration. Rooted in the rugged aesthetics of urban boatyards, with their weather-worn detritus and towering structures, these works draw from the visual language of forgotten industrial spaces. On-site drawings and the collection of discarded materials - offcuts of wood, paint sticks, and garish plastics - serve as the foundation for small three-dimensional studies, which in turn inform the development of her collage paintings.
In her recent process of inquiry, it is the surface beneath that begins to tell its own story. What matters is not the application of paint in lush, expressive brushstrokes - too removed from the artist’s hand - but how it has been used functionally: to decorate, protect, conceal flaws, mend, revive, and patch, often over many years. The tactile evidence of human interaction and the accidental marks left by practical fixings are central to the work. Stamper turned to house paint as her medium when acrylics felt overly synthetic and lacking the depth she sought.
The process begins with the layering of paper, paint, and varnish, followed by cycles of sanding, washing, and further collage. Shapes are cut, torn, and reassembled, creating surfaces alive with unexpected textures and visual surprises. As edges and found marks emerge, they take on a life of their own, forming playful, unconventional compositions that defy traditional boundaries.
What captivates Stamper is the human touch - the accidental marks and practical fixings left behind over time. Materials once used to decorate, protect, repair, or conceal become part of a visual narrative. Imperfections - scratches, stains, remnants, drips, and patterns - are embraced and transformed into a rich painterly vocabulary, allowing each surface to tell its own evolving story.
In this series, marks and edges are no longer incidental; they become the subject themselves. Each kink, curve, and blemish is heightened and celebrated. Through this rich layering of surface and form, Stamper enters an exciting new phase of her collage practice - one that remains firmly rooted in the foundations of her earlier work.