Nick Ryan Gallery presents Borrowed Dust, a solo exhibiton by Brenda Stumpf in the main gallery. Stumpf's latest exhibit, Borrowed Dust, is inspired by the last line of Stanley Kunitz’s poem, “Passing Through.” Her assembled paintings and sculptures bring together memorials in artifact form, reflecting on the inevitable disintegration of the human experience and the salvaged materials used in her works.
The poetics of loss and remembrance are expressed through the deconstruction and rearrangement of found objects, such as paper documents, wooden stair risers, stripped wallpaper, book pages, tin ceiling tiles, plastic leaves, leather and canvas strips, furniture pieces, family costume jewelry, metal bells, and materials removed from older paintings. The surfaces are treated with a reactive iron paint that rusts, transforming and creating a veneer to reference the passing of time.
While melancholic, the works possess a sense of mystery and allure, with some titles bearing the hallmarks of mystical leanings and perception.
Brenda Stumpf (American, b.1972) is a contemporary sculptor and painter. She is a self-taught artist and began exhibiting in the mid-1990s. Stumpf's work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows, including The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, the Alexandria Museum of Art, and the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art.
Stumpf has been awarded a purchase prize from the New Mexico Arts Acclaimed Artist Series, won the Juror's Prize from The Tubac Center of the Arts, and was shortlisted for the Hopper Prize. There are numerous online interviews and printed features in newspapers and magazines, including The Denver Post, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, and Southwest Contemporary. Stumpf's art resides in over 350 private collections throughout the United States and abroad. Originally from Parma, Ohio, the artist lives near Denver, Colorado.
