| We wanted to showcase works of art created by young, eager artists looking to expand, analyze, and question the ideas of public/private. Using the dual existence of Ampersand, a live/work space, as a jumping-off point, we were interested in work that explored the conflicts, tensions, unions, and coexistence between public/private, in all its forms. Unsettled by the blurred fine line between the private and public arenas brought in by new technologies and contemporary social mores, we have chosen to investigate how illusions of intimacy and privacy, voyeurism, social networking, public persona building, exhibitionism, surveillance, alienation, globalization, and loss of authenticity have all somehow informed the practices of five recent art school graduates, all visual artists linked to the San Francisco Bay Area: Danielle Benson, Ryan Whittier Hale, Alan Miknis, Alexa Natanson, and Sonja Smith. |  |
Young Ampersand
We wanted to showcase works of art created by young, eager artists looking to expand, analyze, and question the ideas of public/private. Using the dual existence of Ampersand, a live/work space, as a jumping-off point, we were interested in work that explored the conflicts, tensions, unions, and coexistence between public/private, in all its forms. Unsettled by the blurred fine line between the private and public arenas brought in by new technologies and contemporary social mores, we have chosen to investigate how illusions of intimacy and privacy, voyeurism, social networking, public persona building, exhibitionism, surveillance, alienation, globalization, and loss of authenticity have all somehow informed the practices of five recent art school graduates, all visual artists linked to the San Francisco Bay Area: Danielle Benson, Ryan Whittier Hale, Alan Miknis, Alexa Natanson, and Sonja Smith. Benson’s piece, a collection of found photographs, re-appropriates intimate personal moments; it embraces discarded memories and brings them back to life. In his digital photographs, using himself as the primary subject/model, Hale captures and explores the complexity of the individual and the intimacy of solitary moments. Miknis’ delicate paintings reflect the complex relationship between the individual and the collective. Through the use of light and shadows Natanson’s photographs play with the illusion of representation. Smith’s mixed-media piece exposes the hidden narratives buried within a deconstructed private object. The playful title private pARTs may also be a sly commentary on the art business marketing practices.
Young Ampersand is a curatorial group formed by Jesse Brown, Rachel Hooper, Saskia Mauro, and Theodora Mauro.
