From the latest update from FREIGHT+VOLUME:
Jeffrey Shagawat
SELFIE @ FREIGHT+VOLUME Extended to Sat. Jan. 17th, 2015
December 18th, 2014 – January 17th, 2015
Self Portrait, 2010, custom c-print 30X40 inches
For his first solo exhibition with the gallery, photographer Jeffrey Shagawat explores self-portraiture – or in the parlance of the post-Internet age, Selfies – and takes the tradition to provocative new places. Shagawat’s grand Warholian gesture of presenting an entire exhibition of a personal journey places his own image, whether present or implied, into each visual work. Everything is a self-portrait and yet no image really portrays one’s essence. Or does it? Aren’t we etched within every single gesture, emotion and act? And isn’t the universe just a reflection of our own Private Idahos? In the words of the writer/ philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, the ideal lifetime, one that is free of existential nausea, would be To do, and while doing to make oneself and be nothing but the self which one has made.
Self Portrait, 2008, multi-exposure custom c-print 20×24 inches
The artist telescopes the notion into a colorful and alternatively sexy and harrowing journey into the nature of photography. A photographer, by dint of his attendance at the moment depicted, becomes his subject and arguably even the photograph itself. Shagawat’s photographic tableaux includes friends and hired models, street denizens and family. In addition, the artist chose to document his struggle with brain cancer a few years ago. Having successfully come out of the nightmare with just a few scars, physical and mental, Shagawat looks at life’s moments as something to be taken in, captured. When I look at my photographs I see myself and what my life was like in that moment, regardless of who or what is in the frame, the artist states. More than mere narcissism, the act of becoming one’s own daily avatar is, as Shagawat shows, something of an act of bravery.
Portrait, 2014, custom c-print 30×40 inches
In addition to the conceptual rigor of his photographs, they are also beautiful prints unto themselves. Shagawat employs a mixture of techniques, such as, expired film, multiple exposures, and various cross processes – to achieve his singular vision. Whether the subject is a bevy of bathtub hipsters, or his mysterious and beautiful wife, or his own gruff and bearded Self (in Central Park caricatures, in shadow, or in unapologetic confrontation) – Shagawat’s stark and astonishing perspective on the world shines through.
Self Portrait, 2010, custom c-print 30×40 inches
New Jersey-born Shagawat lives and works in New York City. He attended The New School, where he developed an eye for portraiture and urban landscapes. Using vintage cameras, hand-printed processing and film, Shagawat eschews digital manipulation in favor of the traditional analog approach. His work has been displayed in galleries across the U.S. and abroad including Anna Kustera and Freight+Volume in Chelsea; 116 Suffolk in LES, the Parallax Art Fair in the Flatiron, the Salmagundi Club in the West Village; the Scott Eder Gallery in DUMBO ; Produce in Phoenix ; Dream Space Gallery in London ; and Cafe Diskaire Gallery in Lille, France. In Los Angeles, he has shown at Unitard, 72 Degrees & Sunny, UCLA Med School, Melt Down Gallery, and Eat Your Art Out III & IV.
Self Portrait, 2010, custom c-print 30×40 inches
Current Exhibitions by F+V and A+L artists:
Cristina de Miguel
Extranos en la noche intercambiando miradas @ Arts+Leisure
December 16th, 2014 – January 18th, 2015.
1571 Lexington Avenue (at 100th street)
New York, NY, 10029
Erik den Breejen was selected to paint a 25-ft mural portrait for Atlantic Records new headquarters in Manhattan of their founder, Ahmet Ertegun. Check it out on Instagram – @erik_den_breejen.
Freight + Volume is proud to have artistsErik den Breejen, Sam Jablon, and Michael Scoggins exhibiting in a new exhibition at the Children’s Museum of the Arts, Drawn to Language.
9/18/14 – 1/11/15
103 Charlton St.
New York, NY 10014
Katherine Bradford “Shelf Paintings” can still be viewed @ A+L and F+V, click here.
For articles, reviews and blogs on Katherine click here.
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2014 Freight + Volume, All rights reserved.