donna anderson kam

Recology SF, AIR Residency
Studio Gallery, Recology SF
San Francisco, California. January 2012

Beginning at the End
solo exhibition:

During her residency, Anderson Kam used the Recology San Francisco facility as back drop for her actors and recognizable areas—the sculpture garden, hillside, and Public Disposal Building are all visible in her final pieces.
Sharon Spain, curator

Looking at Donna Anderson Kam’s large-scale drawings in pastel one might not realize the source of her imagery or the process behind her work. Anderson Kam uses contemporary newspaper stories as a starting point to explore pressing social issues, especially the paradox of prosperity and sustainability. She begins by photographing young actors as they perform the stories, then uses the resulting photographs to create collage studies that she eventually reinterprets in pastels. The final drawings are finely rendered scenes in soft tones that can be as large as four by six feet and which are  left intentionally ambiguous. Negative space is as significant as the drawings themselves as it serves to isolate and accentuate, and the soft pastel tones speak to hazy memories of past events. The youth of the figures alludes to everything from fragility and peril to mischievousness and rebellion, and intimates that the issues that play out in the secenarios will continue to face future generations. She explains, “…our consumption based economy, our media influenced identity, and the unrealistic expectations of personal prosperity inspired by a constant barrage of messages from the media to consume/renew/refresh, have created a mountain of discarded commercial goods,cultural amnesia, and the many spiritually impoverished ‘consumers’ that exist today.”

Sharon Spain, curator

(08-12-2011) 4:40 PDT Little Hollywood, CA. (AP)--
Chalk and pastel on paper, 44”x28.5”
collection: Recology San Francisco

exhibition list:

(08-12-2011) 4:49 PDT Little Hollywood, CA. (AP)--
3 part wall sculpture: wood, latex, vinyl, pastel,
charcoal, colored pencil on paper, 9“x187”

(08-12-2011) 4:51 PDT Little Hollywood, CA. (AP)--
sculpture: wood, latex, vinyl, pastel, colored pencil, chalk on
paper, 15“x87”

(08-12-2011) 4:47 PDT Little Hollywood, CA. (AP)--
Pastel and colored pencil on paper board with
paper/vinyl overlay, 44”x34”

(08-12-2011) 4:42 PDT Little Hollywood, CA. (AP)--
sculpture: pastel and chalk on paper with paper/vinyl
overlay, 48”x52”

(08-12-2011) 4:48 PDT Little Hollywood, CA. (AP)--
pastel and chalk on photo arcival paper with vinyl
advert. overlay, 48”x93”

(08-12-2011) 4:40 PDT Little Hollywood, CA. (AP)--
Chalk and pastel on paper, 44”x28.5”