Hang in There
JAD FAIR PAPER CUTTINGS AND DRAWINGS04.05 2023
ANNSON CONAWAY | In Some Room Above The Street
April 7 – April 28, 2023
Opening Reception
Friday April 7
6pm – 10 pm
SPACE 1026
844 N. Broad St.
Philadelphia
Annson Conaway is an artist based in Gouglersville, Pennsylvania. The body of work in his solo exhibition, IN SOME ROOM ABOVE THE STREET, shows people gathered in interior spaces doing mostly mundane, everyday activities.
In one scene, commuters sit side-by-side and escape into their personal portable distractions. In another, a family watches a Phillies game huddled around a TV together. We see a couple seated around the fire, one asleep and one contently becoming radicalized by her choice of reading material; a trio of people smoking cigarettes in a gritty, unidentifiable public space, decorated with only a tiny trash can and a giant Pennsylvania Lottery ad; and two guys working on a car in their garage, a pinup poster and a novelty street sign hiding in the shadows around a bright window with a view of identical rowhomes. While not always glamorous, these scenes aren’t all drab—we also see a jazz singer and pianist in patterned gowns performing around a red curtain—though it’s unclear who their audience is, or if they even have one.
And then there’s the apparent outlier: a nude woman reclined in the desert, a figure walking towards her silhouetted by the sunset. Is it a mirage? A fantasy of escape? Or are these the lucky ones that got away from it all and made it out to the other side…
In these rooms above the street, people are living their lives. And in a room above a street, Annson created these pieces. And now, at last, you have the pleasure of viewing them in—you guessed it—SOME ROOM ABOVE THE STREET!
Artist: www.annson.us
