ALONE/TOGETHER
curated by Amanda Simms Hunt
May 16 - June 21, 2008

ALONE/TOGETHER is a group show featuring photographic works that seek to express how the individual defines personal space within the overwhelming nexus of the city. New York City is a setting rife with a collective energy that inspires the artistic community it has always attracted. While stimulating, that energy can also be oppressive in its frequent tendency to assault the senses. The ability to remove oneself from it while remaining socially connected is a conundrum we each struggle with. ALONE/TOGETHER addresses the dichotomy of the public and private spheres as they pertain to the metropolitan individual. It illuminates just how the artist (or their subject) attempts to carve out a sacred space for him or herself - anything that might provide a meditative respite from the highly charged urban lifestyle.

For some of the artists, it is about escape, which may mean removing oneself from the urban geography entirely in order to flee its gridded constraints. Others will instead define refuge by interiority, in a manner far less tangible. Whatever the context, the exhibition seeks to uncover how the individual artist locates a platform for relaxation, and, ultimately, how that platform is visually expressed. ALONE/TOGETHER transcends traditional aesthetic value in order to offer psychological insight. Essentially, it asks what the artist claims as solely their own. Each of the works presented here will implore viewers to consider how they themselves define the boundaries between public and private in their own lives. It is especially fitting that the theme be considered at the inauguration of Talman + Monroe as this alternative gallery space embodies a unique marriage of the two realms.

A pdf of the press release can be downloaded here.