Opening Reception:

Thursday, March 26th, 6:00-9:00pm

Drake Lab is pleased to present Jessica Baldanzas most recent body of work in her first solo exhibition at the gallery.

Baldanza's series explores the isolated and banal nature of urban existence through the lens of surveillance footage. She questions the benefit and necessity of the increasingly pervasive nature of surveillance, and challenges controversial tactics and weak justifications to record so much of the public sphere. While surveillance is intended to capture illegal and harmful activity, the reality is millions of hours capturing people in the mundane moments that comprise the bulk of modern urban existence. The result is a familiar portrait of isolation and loneliness. In her new paintings she uses a muted, de-saturated palette, limited aesthetic information, and anonymous faces. She attempts to capture the fundamental nature of this reality, to urge viewers to recognize themselves and their lives in the scenes, the anonymous figures acting as surrogates for viewers to identify with. These works encourage the spectator to critically question the privacy or lack there of that our society affords us.