Michael Stamm b. 1983
Strongman (Calipers), 2022
oil, acrylic, colored pencil on carved wood panel
72 x 41 in
182.9 x 104.1 cm
182.9 x 104.1 cm
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Incorporating stylistic elements of WPA murals and propaganda posters, Michael Stamm’s Strongman paintings feature nearly-nude muscular male figures at their center. Facing away from the viewer and flexing in a...
Incorporating stylistic elements of WPA murals and propaganda posters, Michael Stamm’s Strongman paintings feature nearly-nude muscular male figures at their center. Facing away from the viewer and flexing in a heroic pose, the strongman is surrounded by symbols associated with cultivating masculinity: strength and body-building drinks, like gatorade; phallic symbols of power (guns, swords, and Greco-Roman columns, all posed perfectly erect); and mythic, god-like patriarchs (Atlas literally carrying the weight of the heavens on his shoulders). In each instance, the painting is decorated with rainbows, twinkling stars and flashing lights, while a flaccid shadow figure folds away from the strongman to face the viewer with a wry smile. In contrast with the dense and solid masses of masculine iconography littering the composition—heightened by the artist’s use of laser-cut board—this limp trickster peels toward the viewer to reveal not only the superficiality of performing masculinity, but also its precarity. What’s left when we shed these unstable symbols of strength and virility? Where does the strongman’s power go?
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