ParaSite @ The Iron Fish Trading Company Presents:
Stephanie Diamond Passing the Baton
Nov 12th - Nov 27th, 2005
*Opening Reception Saturday Nov 12th, 4 - 7pm.
New York City-based photographer Stephanie Diamond's use of photography is unique, as it employs a means to an end, and not an end within itself. Her process is equally as important as her final product. Passing the Baton, opening on Saturday, November 12 from 4 - 7pm, displays Diamond's archive as a sculptural photo installation alongside her mother's massive cookbook collection/archive.
Also on display will be Diamond's on-going photographic series, Food. A family portrait in a sense, the duel archives demonstrate the similarities between Diamond's photo archive (a personalized system that stores over 80,000 photographs that range from images of her grandparents, childhood images, college images, to Diamond's current images), her processes for creating images, and her mother's cookbook archive; which personifies a method of meticulously marking down, in her cookbooks, all the recipes she has ever used. This seemingly inherited tradition of documenting within the Diamond family was only recently discovered by Diamond when her mother began to clean out and store her cookbooks.
The endless parallels are striking between Diamond's own creative process, and her mother's obsession with recording the food that she cooked. Diamond's series Food references this direct correlation between mother and daughter. Food features a diverse range of cuisine and provisions that Diamond has consumed and documented for the past few years. Whether the images convey a half-eaten birthday dinner or a melted, unappealing piece of chocolate, this series displays an ironic reality that is both humorous and disturbing. In the gallery, Food is displayed on walls, alongside both in a large vitrine located in the center of the gallery.
Stephanie Diamond received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design 1997, and her MA at New York University, 2003. Diamond has had a solo exhibition at Cuchifritos Gallery in New York City in 2005 and Galeria Sin Titulo in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2004. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center; The Studio Museum in Harlem; Contemporary Art Center in Vilnius, Lithuania; Art in General; and Artists\' Space. Diamond has been an artist-in-residence at M + M Projects in San Juan Puerto Rico; Art Omi; The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center.
Directions:
Train - Metro North Hudson River line to Poughkeepsie. Get off at the Beacon stop (Dia: Beacon). Walk toward north end of platform and up the hill to Main Street. Driving - Route 9D to Beacon, I-84 West to Exit 12 (Beacon), I-84 East to Exit 11 (Beacon).
Passing the Baton will be on view at ParaSite Art Space located at The Iron Fish Trading Company 167 Main Street, Beacon, NY, from November 12th through November 27th, 2005. For further information please contact gallery director Karlos Carcamo at 347-531-6111.
