Inman Gallery press release of Meanwhile:
Meanwhile presents a new suite of paintings exploring quiet intimacies: buckets of flowers in bodega entryways, dewy raindrops on plastic sheaths for bouquets, HEB greeting cards waiting to be purchased, and closeups of socks, implying a private moment at home. The exhibition marks a transition from the artist’s previous grittier cityscapes and construction sites towards softer subject matter. The imagery is still "in the city” – grocery stores, bodegas, flower shop storefronts – but the gaze has shifted to capturing public places that speak to private expressions.
However, the circumstances that prompt these private expressions remain outside the scope of the paintings, fortifying the works’ emotional depth. Ammon’s subject matter – cards and flowers waiting to be purchased – piques our curiosity as to what is happening, or did happen, or could happen to necessitate these gifts. Is this gesture joyous or mournful? With the absence of people to indicate the celebratory or commemoratory nature of an event, we as the viewer are left wondering. Read in this light, the works take on a melancholic tone, reflecting both the unease of an unknown outcome and the warmth of the thoughtful gesture itself.
The titular work, a monumental, multi-panel painting depicting a flower shop refrigerator, responds to this very notion of thick stillness amid anticipation. Painted to-scale, the surface reveals frosted glass and foggy windows partitioning receding space. While life-shaking events divide our sense of time into ‘befores’ and ‘afters,’ Ammon calls attention to how we navigate the ‘meanwhile.’ Other titles, like “Sharing a Bag of Chips” (sock painting) or “You, Me, and Everybody Else” (valentine card display kiosk), point to the material markers of quality time in these moments. The card paintings have a more humorous tone, siphoning through several templates that don’t “fit” until something rings true. The sock paintings capture a more tender moment at home, just talking or snacking with a friend or a love, reminding us that being present is a gift too.
By painting gifts and rituals that form around the in-between moments of life events Ammon expresses the physical ways we communicate care. In their depiction of gesture, the works capture the joys, humor, and tenderness of sharing a life with others. Ammon’s canvases occupy the same space as the bouquets and cards they depict—when words are unavailable or feel inadequate, a painting gestures towards the feelings we carry.
