“follow me, don’t chase me!”

“follow me, don’t chase me!”

Photography by Jan Watten & Sculpture by Benjamin T. Smith

Closing party 1/11/14, 6 to 9pm

Show runs November 17th January 11th, 2014

Two Oakland artists capture the symbols that both surround and embrace us.
Please join us!

Photography by Jan Watten:
Born into an artistic family, photographer Jan Watten has a passion for expressing the essence and core of her subject's being.  Her work revolves around the idea of identity – capturing an aspect of her sitter in an isolated moment.  Intrigued by the concept of Self, Watten has been attempting to capture unique qualities and characteristics in her subjects for more than two decades.  Whether she is photographing an adolescent boy, the weathered hand of a gardener, the elegant face of a musician or a young girl clinging to a family portrait – she is attempting to portray identity through a small but very revealing and symbolic aspect of someone. Watten photographs her subjects in black and white, as it reduces an image into simple elements and without the distractions of color and extraneous information.  Her images are captured with film and are archival traditional darkroom prints.
Watten attended California College of Arts and Crafts, and has shown domestically and internationally, and was recently profiled in Black and White Magazine.
  www.janwatten.com

Sculpture by Benjamin T. Smith:
Since the beginning I was pursued by monsters in my dreams. Until one night I stopped short and said, “If you’re going to run behind me, follow me, don’t chase me!” Since then they have been my subjects.
 
   There’s the friendly monster story. Alternately, there is the horror of the momentum of our current trajectory.  My art is a static representation of hallucination. My favorite piece is a painting by Brueghel, the Blind Leading the Blind.
 
   When you see a face in a grain of wood where is that coming from?
I’m sure we have all also seen other things that are even harder to explain. Anyway I do, everyday, in every little piece of junk around me. Incessantly, they call out to be saved. -Benjamin T. Smith
 benjamintsmith.wordpress.com