In her latest work Stumpf delivers a deluge of red soaked encrusted objects and material, onto surfaces where the death and rebirth of the feminine are invoked.The provocative subjects Stumpf exhumes are the victims of Jack the Ripper, women who were tortured and killed during the Inquisitions, and baby girls of female infanticide. Almost as a salve, each of the seven paintings is paired and caressed with a poem by Pablo Neruda.
Seshat
Composed of four large-scale paintings, two diptychs, and three sculptures, the Seshat works are made mostly from found objects. The works are inspired by mysticism and alchemy through the lens of Seshat, the ancient Egyptian goddess of writing; and in a broader sense the Scribe archetype. In these works Stumpf deals primarily with the process of transformation.
Eggs Rocks Pearls
This selection of drawings explores, compares, and excavates the self, relationships, and the relationship to the self; often being the observer and the observed simultaneously.
Geological in their mountainous formations, the configurations of small round shapes seem slightly distorted in their construct, yet delicately balanced and bound. Some have gaping holes suggesting openings or breakthroughs, or possibly decay, yet all have extrusions of fibers or filaments at their spire, hinting at something lighter – something of spirit. The title takes from the potentiality of the egg, the permanence of rock, and the wisdom of the pearl.
Offerings & Attributes
Like secrets, like prayers, celebrations and meditations, offerings and attributes of love and loss.
Fifty Days at Niflheim
Niflheim is the realm of ice and cold in Norse mythology. The terrain of this underworld is ruled by the goddess Hel, who is a guide through the shadow land and teacher of the inherent duality of life and death. The drawings were produced during the winter of 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio between the eve of an anniversary, December 27th 2003, and Valentines Day, February 14th 2004.
