The Potato Papers

Having a close look at the recent works of Leipzig based
artist Stefan Stößel, one recognizes something mysteriously
familiar. It is not so much the images of transport-pallets or
drawings of various vegetables arranged to still-lifes that
make us ponder.
A second glance reveals quickly: It is the technique – no
painting, but the principle of stamping and potato prints
that reminds us of our childhood.

Traditionally utilized to indicate ownership claims or to
reproduce writings and designs, Stößel appreciates the
stamp not only for it's formal strictness. Schematic
representation meets the literally natural imprint of
commodity items. Standardized principles of repetition in
combination with biological shapes generate a concrete and
constructive – partially amorphous art between realism and
abstraction. Restrained by a sense of ascetic reduction in
shape and content, his wholehearted game brings forth
poetic papers charged with a quiet cheeriness. Comparable
to a printing plate, the stamps that make up the basis of his
work are the utensil to transform the graphic print into a
unique copy.

Stefan Stößel was born in Thuringia in 1970. Until 1998, he
was student of Prof. Arno Rink at the Academy of Fine Arts
Leipzig, where he also completed the master class of Prof.
Astrid Klein. Stefan Stoessel lives and works in Leipzig.