Ted Stamm (1944 – 1984) was one of the most multidisciplinary conceptual and dedicated artists working in SoHo in downtown Manhattan in the 1970s and early 80s. He worked in his New York Studio since 1968 where he developed a series of paintings, works on paper, and studies that he called Woosters, Dodgers, Zephyr, Chance, Cancel, and Tags. Stamm’s practice extended beyond his studio to areas including mail art, artists’ books, photography, site-specific installations, and street art documentation titled Designators. Many of Stamm’s inspirations derive from observing everyday objects, experiences, and events, such as seeing an abstract shape on the street or lines on a baseball field. Black is a consistent component of Stamm’s work, a color he associated with rebellion, rigor, and reduction. Stamm created a rich oeuvre in his short lifetime, which became influential for artists coming of age in New York over the past forty years.

During his lifetime and beyond, Ted Stamm’s work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries across various countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. His work has been included in solo and group exhibitions at venues, such as Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, The Clocktower (all New York City), Museum of Contemporary Art, MoCA (Los Angeles, CA), Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY), Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH), Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale (Fort Lauderdale, FL), Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA), Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO), Akademie Der Kunste (Berlin, Germany) and Louisiana Museum (Humlebæk, Denmark).