Attraction, 2014 • 20 x 15", ink jet print
 

PARALLEL PLAY

I recently moved my studio from the basement to our grown up children's bedroom. I refrained from painting over the walls filled with an accumulated history of pushpin holes, smudges, and fingerprints and instead started a new series of photographs using the wall as a backdrop. The images reflect the history of the room, both playful and chaotic.

Parallel play is a term used when toddlers don't yet know how to play together but are happy playing side by side. This happens a lot now with electronic devices with both adults and children. I see myself practicing parallel play across time.

In earlier works my photographs were combined with different materials to create sculptures.  In this series I emphasize the immaterial, aligning more with drawing, weightlessness and the temporary. The images play with the slipperiness of vision and highlight the limits of understanding. I embrace happenstance and what can be found in the residual.

 

 
 
Wing, 2014 • 20 x 15", ink jet print
 

Ellen Garvens is a Professor of Art at the University of Washington in Seattle. She received a B.S. in Art at the University of Wisconsin and a MFA from the University of New Mexico.   She has received a Fulbright–Hayes Scholarship, National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowship Grant, and an Artist Trust /Washington State Fellowship. Her work has been reviewed in Arts Magazine, Art on Paper, Sculpture Magazine, The Village Voice, New Art Examiner, New York Times, Creative Camera London, and San Francisco Camerawork. The January 2009 Issue of  "Contact Sheet," published by Light Work Galley in Syracuse, NY is dedicated to her work. Her new video work will be featured on http://www.violetstrays.com from July 17 - 30, 2015.

Ellen’s recent images use table scraps and mark making to create a combination of drawing and photography. I am interested in the in-between states across materials and methods, i.e., when these two ways of working -- photographically and with drawing -- strike a delicate balance in a way that surprises me.

www.ellengarvens.com

 
 
Grass, 2014 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Crawl, 2014 • 20 x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Star, 2015 • 20 x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Fleet, 2015 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Data, 2015 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Cy, 2015 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Punch, 2015 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Pairing, 2014 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Eclipse, 2014 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
Jade Notebook, 2015 • 20" x 15", ink jet print
 
 
 
 
www.ellengarvens.com