ARTIST STATEMENT: Miles Stemp’s multi-disciplinary art explores the necessity and absurdity of modern communication. With a sly nod towards sloganeering, social media, and the mechanics of stand-up comedy, his projects appear to present one-liners but instead unearth cascades of multiple meaning and enthralling misdirection.
Stemp’s visual candor is a carefully considered con, a deft sleight of hand comedically whipping up the very confusion it seeks to clarify. The work’s punchlines disarm viewers, dislocating their perceptions to create a vital pause—an invitation to slow down, open up, and think about thinking.
BIO: Miles Stemp (b. 1983) is a Canadian-American artist who explores the necessity and absurdity of modern communication. Through his individual practice and collective works, he has exhibited in Greece, Switzerland, UK, USA, and extensively across Canada. He was a founding member of the influential Canadian collective, VSVSVS and his work has been reviewed in Canadian Art, ESSE, C Magazine, and Border Crossings.
He received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.