October 1st, 2017-November 15th, 2017
Artist Reception: Thursday, October 5th, 2017 from 6pm-8pm

Please RSVP: 949.510.5481 by September 29th, 2017
JoAnne Artman Gallery 326 N Coast Hwy | Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Contact:  JoAnne Artman Telephone:  949-510-5481 || E-mail: [email protected]

JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present the second installment of Brooke Shaden’s Fourth Wall – Room Series in which the artist continues her exploration of the space between illusion, perception and identity in the photographic medium. The term “fourth wall” is a reference to an exercise in the audience’s suspension of disbelief in the field of theatre and film. This happens when the invisible barrier between the reality of the action on screen and the present moment is broken by one of the characters directly addressing the audience. Shaden plays with this concept through the sense of anonymity when viewing the work, capitalizing on the self-reflective nature of the photographs. We are at once the voyeur as well as a participant in the unfolding action, activating the images through our gaze and giving life to the stories captured inside.

Shaden’s series blends dreams and reality into a nuanced magical realism. The tight composition and forced dimensionality and perspective of each image creates a shadow box effect, reinforcing a studied stillness. Each piece feels like a glimpse into a secret world, a specimen study of private space usually concealed from the outside world.

Her painterly style and polished finish belie the intensive artistic process undertaken to achieve each completed image. The transformation of the seven by seven foot room from one scene to the next is captured in a video loop, the only evidence of the laborious production undertaken for each scene, as well as the only physical remainder of Shaden’s colossal artistic process other than the photographs themselves.

Brooke Shaden (b. 1987, Lancaster, PA) is a fine art photographer. She was the winner of Photographer’s FORUM 35th Annual Spring Photography Contest (2015), and one of Shutter Magazine’s Top 10 Most Influential Photographers (2014). Her work has been featured on numerous book covers and exhibited nationally.

Brooke Shaden’s work will inspire, provoke, engage and mesmerize. With visual perceptions always changing, peek behind the stories told and you’re sure to find the right artistic expression!