"Steve Stackpole makes wonderful Machines, seemingly in perpetual motion. Each is a complex world unto itself, and all use the figure, often to witty effect. But the piece I liked most was a hand which kept opening and closing [see "Ponder"], the segments of each finger meticulously articulated. It brought out the abstractness of Stackpole’s works, all the more so because it eschewed social comment, unlike “Outsider”, “Weightlifter,” and “Toe Shark.” Nonetheless, like all of Stackpole’s ingenious works- which are conceptual despite their vivid materiality- they suggest the mechanical character of the human body, and human behavior in general, thus belying our own belief in our organicity and spontaneity. But the kinetic dynamic of Stackpole’s works seems weirdly spontaneous, and his wood gives them an organic feel. The contradiction is exhilarating."

Donald Kuspit
  - Excerpt from Virginia Commonwealth University MFA Thesis Exhibition Catalog 2003