Paul Shambroom, Securtiy: Kavi Gupta | 835 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL, 60607
Kavi Gupta Gallery is pleased to present our first solo exhibition by American artist Paul Shambroom whose work is marked by an ongoing interest in documenting the various power structures that symbolize our democracy. The exhibition will include a body of work from Shambrooms latest series of work titled Security.
Security presents documentation of participants engaged in various drills at training facilities financed by the Department of Homeland Security to aid in the response of terrorist attacks within the nations borders. A group of four photographs depicts these trainees in bio-hazardous gear, full-body armor, and SWAT uniforms as they test buildings for pathogens with exotic instruments or decontaminate a car by covering it in white foam. The photos at once appear staged and spontaneous revealing moments that blur the line between the daunting potential of these tragic moments and a playful illusion. Heightening this feeling between reality and fiction are six individual portraits of these official trainees. These men seem foreign to the background behind them as they stand guard in front of spaces that once symbolized American freedom and expansion, such as an open desert or a lush forest.
Ultimately, these photographs provide a conscious reminder of the post 9/11 world we live in complete with fear, anxiety, and uncertainty; ever-the-more making us come to terms with a reality that often seems very far removed from our own daily lives. Additionally, one cant ignore the reference to historical portraiture from the 18th and 19th centuries through the staged stance of the individuals, the stylized backgrounds and the use of inkjet prints varnished on stretched canvas.
Shambroom has committed himself to exploring the dichotomy between the microcosm and macrocosm levels of democracy and the enforcement of these areas. His previous work can be broken up into two parts. In the first series, Nuclear Weapons, Shambroom grants us access through his photographs to private military domains such as submarines, bomber bases, command centers, and nuclear weapon sites. While his second series, Meetings, examines civic duties being carried out in municipal buildings across Middle America. Together, Shambrooms photographs call attention to the power of the individual, while simultaneously raising awareness of the shared feelings of dislocation, fear and safety we all have to the world around us.
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Shambroom lives and works in Minneapolis and has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe. Selected solo exhibitions include Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, NY; Julie Saul Gallery, NY; Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis. Selected group exhibitions include Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; Milwaukee Art Museum; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, NY; and MASS MoCA.
A mid-career survey exhibition with full catalog is being organized by a three-museum consortium (Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Weisman Art Museum, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, University Art Museum, Cal. State, Long Beach) and was recently awarded support by the Warhol Foundation. His work is included in numerous museum collections including the Whitney which also featured him in the 1997 Biennial, The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Walker Art Center.
