Drawing at once from design, literature and autobiography, Michael Stamm probes the need for genuine human relationships in a world that is somehow both increasingly interconnected and deeply alienated. Exploring themes of identity, physical and spiritual wellness, self-actualization and self-doubt, Stamm’s practice playfully oscillates between distanced, abstract contemplation and erratic, self-conscious confession. Stamm’s paintings and drawings critically consider the popular tenets of our time with a wry sincerity, reconciling hope and skepticism in an era that requires large doses of both.

For The Coward, the artist shares wryly, "who doesn’t love the intersection of hegemonic masculinity, Manichean bloodlust, and the hero-washing of western expansionism’s colonialist rot?"