On View: Friday, May 1, 2009 - June 6, 2009
Exhibition Hours: Wednesday through Saturday 12pm - 6pm and by appointment
Opening Reception: Friday, May 1, 2009 from 7pm - 10pm
For this solo exhibition of new work, Ken D. Ashton traveled M Street, a central artery in the nation's capital, which starts at the Key Bridge and ends near the National Arboretum. According to the artist, "M Street is a cross-section of the city. It goes from the old established and high-end shopping of Georgetown through downtown into lower Shaw and under the new convention center. There it passes projects into what I knew as an old artist community. It meanders across New Jersey and New York Avenues to intersect North Capitol Street and some notorious projects. From there it is the center of a brand new area of development with new office construction and a new Metro station. It then passes the old Washington Coliseum where the Beatles had their first American concert."
Rooted in the street photography tradition, Ashton’s photographic style is as much about place as it is about first person narrative. These are not objective, documentary photographs taken by a casual passerby in the city. Ashton’s work is carefully considered and defined by a strong perspective where the presence of the artist is felt yet not seen in the frame. His work is poetic and conceptual, building strength from context, setting scenes of economic life-stories told through light, form, and the built world.
Ashton's work can be found in private collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Corcoran Gallery of Art and The George Washington University. His work has been featured in exhibitions at Civilian Art Projects, the Corcoran Museum; the Goethe-Institute; and Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA. Publications include Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art, Selections from the Collection of Julia J. Norrell Collection and Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 To The Present by Deborah Willis. Ashton was recently selected by Vincent Katz for the 23rd Annual Critics' Residency exhibition at Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, MD.
May 1 - June 6, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday, May 1, 2009, 7 - 10pm
For this solo exhibition of new work, photographer Ken D. Ashton traveled M Street, a central artery in the Nation's capital, which starts at the Key Bridge and ends near the National Arboretum. These are not objective, documentary photographs taken by a casual passerby in the city. Ashton’s work is carefully considered and defined by a strong perspective where the presence of the artist is felt yet not seen in the frame. His work is poetic and conceptual, building strength from context, setting scenes of economic life-stories told through light, form, and the built world.
