WE ARE

PostmastersROMA is pleased to present We Are, the second exhibition in Rome of Postmasters Gallery's nomadic project space. Through painting, sculpture, and animation, three American artists—Amber Boardman, Monica Cook, and Jenny Morgan—explore our humanly ways: fragmented, humorous, demure, and entangled in auras and emotions.

In this cacophonous era of shattered taboos, where the weak and strong alike speak out at full volume, and everyone fights for what they want, if not what they believe, the subtler ways in which people differ, suffer, and rejoice become less noticeable. Meanwhile, people are pained to admit that amidst our virtualized spectacle, much of their quotidian existence is made up of ridiculousness, discomfort, insecurity, and tedium. But these artists see it, capture it, and transmute it.

In her paintings Jenny Morgan peers deep into the souls of her subjects, limning the subtle emotions that palpitate and shimmer just beneath the surface. Through photo-realistic representation and experiments of auratic color, she transfigures the human form within its spiritual space.

Amber Boardman's seemingly comical paintings manage to evoke both the whimsy and the petty absurdity of human existence. A natural mark-maker, Boardman's use of bold, cartoonish lines and colors lulls the viewer into an abashed recognition of their own follies and perceived tragedies.

In Monica Cook's otherworldly stop-action animation Milk Tooth, the arcs of love and life are traced by creatures that seem at once bio-organic and celestial. Accompanying this work are new sculptures made from glass, concrete, and other materials, reflecting the same pulsing vitality and vulnerability that infuses the animation.

Though they vary in tone, medium, and aesthetic, the works of these three artists share a connective tissue that traces the underlying vulnerability of the human experience.

Amber Boardman (b.1981, Portland, MA) works between New York, Atlanta, and Sydney. She holds a PhD from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. Her works have been exhibited internationally, and are held in numerous private and public collections including the High Museum of Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, the City of Sydney, and Artbank Australia. She has worked commercially as an animator for Cartoon Network's [adult swim], Comedy Central, and Google.

Jenny Morgan (b. 1982 Salt Lake City, UT) lives and works in New York. She holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. Her most recent exhibition was a solo show at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver Colorado. Her work is included in numerous collections including Flint Institute of the Arts, MI, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, FL, and Palmer Museum of Art, PA.

Monica Cook (b. 1974, Dalton, GA) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is the interim director of the sculpture department at the New York Academy of Art. Cook received her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA. She further studied at School of Visual Arts, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and is currently a 2018 fellow at UrbanGlass, Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in numerous international exhibitions including YouTube Play Biennial, Guggenheim Museum, New York, Bilbao, Venice and Berlin. Cook's work is included in private and public collections, and was recently acquired by the 21 C Museum Hotel Collection, Louisville, KY, and the Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA.

PostmastersROMA is the second location of Postmasters Gallery, designated for special projects and headed by Paulina Bebecka. As a nomadic branch of the gallery, without a permanent venue, we can experiment through pop up exhibitions in diverse spaces around Rome.