NEW YORK, NY – All Street Gallery is excited to present parenthesis, a solo exhibition of artworks by Shaan Ken Rao on view from August 8 - 15, 2024. Through photography, painting and collage, parenthesis contemplates ideas of the transitory self, the tension between stillness and action, and the pursuit of peace within these liminal moments. Rao contextualizes these themes within moments of parenthesis: instances of calm or anxious inaction, a pause in which one is separated from the world. To contextualize this idea of “parenthesis,” Rao draws on his experience in rehabilitation, which, to him, was like living in a pocket of time and space apart from real life, awaiting the gradual reset of body and mind, and anticipating life’s eventual continuation.

Reflecting on these moments of pause, Rao’s photography examines transitory spaces through suspended action. For example, in ken looks down at pool, the viewer is confronted by the hesitation before an implied jump: Ken is poised at the edge of a diving board, his gaze lowered towards the clear water. Ken is a recurring subject in Rao’s work, and someone he met during his time at a rehabilitation facility. In the artist’s view, Ken was the manifestation of what his own future could look like if he kept using. This profound connection between Rao and Ken is reflected by the piece’s visual intensity, in which the bright white shirt, shining board, and shimmering water blaze in the white sunlight against the cool green foliage of the background, evoking qualities of premonitions, memories, and dreams. Although the piece instills a sense of peace, the prevailing emotion is the tense uncertainty of Ken’s anticipated plunge and its underlying connotation of death and self annihilation; the piece thus provokes a sense of dread and foreboding danger. In this representation of Ken, Rao reiterates his recurring motif of liminality.

Rao’s mixed media piece desdemona similarly grapples with conceptions of the self caught between opposing states. The piece employs ink transfers from DALL-E iterations of his own photographs of Ken, who is a repeating subject in Rao’s work, often symbolizing a prospective future self. By labeling each image as A and B versions of the subject, the ink transfer splits Ken into two opposing identities. This bifurcation expresses an opposition between an internal desire for change and often fixed external perceptions of identity: Rao introduces “A” as an uncensored, vulnerable, and raw version of the self, and “B” as a palatable presentation of the self, meant to appease external expectations. The use of AI to regenerate different versions of his own photographs brings into question whether multiple versions of a person can exist, and which one, if any, is “real”. Rao has also explored the A and B self through the lens of identity before and during the addiction recovery process, with outsiders perceiving the version of the self they most want to see. This split perception produces a tumultuous duality with which Rao grapples in many of the works displayed.

The title of the piece is inspired by the character Desdemona from the Shakespearean tragedy, Othello, whose identity and truth becomes so manipulated by those around her that her own husband cannot see her for who she is (which results in her death). Rao equally contemplates the character of Othello, and his role in subjugating his wife’s identity to his own perception, projecting his own worst fears onto her. One could perhaps argue that the large purple figure in desdemona manipulates the A/B self in a way similar to Othello’s own power over his wife, resulting in the fatal decision to only see his own projections of her. Although Desdemona’s identity was warped by external forces, Rao examines the challenge of molding one’s own identity, which can prove to be a question of life or death.

Although desdemona’s stakes are communicated through binary extremes, the work is simultaneously riddled with visual ambiguity. The themes of the manipulation and obscurity of identity are most present in the Ken ink transfers and the spectral purple figure, hovering between the two opposing paths. Through AI, transfer processes, layering, and superimposing seemingly contradictory gender signifiers, Rao manipulates the material representations of these figures, centering the perception of identity as a convoluted, complex, and disorienting process.

The diptych naoshima trees shows a figure on a precipice, and visualizes the simultaneous tranquility and apprehension that permeate moments of contemplation and liminality. Rao’s figure is the protagonist in the diptych’s narrative, whose slight change in action from standing to sitting feels charged. These diptych representations carry myriad interpretations. The figure on the left is more dynamic in its upright stance before the intimidating expanse of sea and sky, evoking sentiments of optimism and openness; in its situation on the water’s edge, this figure conversely references self-destruction and an implied jump, mirroring ken looks down at pool. The juxtaposed seated figure to the right is both an image of acceptance along with a representation of the anxious anticipation that permeates moments of parenthesis. As with his other works, Rao explores the pull between the serenity of a scene and the anticipation of action, and embraces this unsettling ambiguity.

parenthesis presents Rao’s diverse expression of artistic creation, and a profound contemplation of liminality, restlessness, and contentment. Rao examines the tumultuous duality of the self, the power of stillness against suspended action, and the simultaneous serenity and anxiety within moments of parenthesis. One is encouraged to sit with his atmospheric photographic works, grapple with the tension presented by his collaged pieces, and seize those fleeting liminal moments of peace. 

About the Artist: SHAAN KEN RAO is a multi-disciplinary artist born and based in New York City. He is half-Japanese and half-Pakistani. Shaan graduated with a BFA in Photography from Parsons in 2021, and has a large body of documentary and fine art photography. Along with his photographic work, Shaan has also exhibited a mixture of paintings/collages and video work that contextualize his documentary photography and give a deeper insight into his own psyche at All St Gallery (77 East 3rd Street, NY, NY), Millennium Film Foundation (167 Wilson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11237), and at the Gala Art Center (15-08 121st St, Queens, NY 11356). Shaan is also the frontman of the band, DINHO DINHO which in the last year has played at classic NYC venues like Mercury Lounge, Bowery Electric, Arlene’s Grocery, The Delancey and more. Otherwise he has worked in various photo industries, having done shot on-set photography for two of award winning director, Aisha Amin’s short films, as well as video editing, post processing/retouching, and darkroom processing for the personal and commercial work of Kenji Toma. Currently, Shaan assists the renowned landscape photographer, Victoria Sambunaris with her practice. 

About All Street Gallery:
Founded in 2018, All Street Gallery presents works by emerging and underrepresented artists whose works demonstrate social engagement and community empowerment. First established as an artist collective and grassroots organization by born and raised New Yorkers, All Street is a space that is both created by and for artists and their communities. Having deep roots in New York City, the gallery and collective share a background in public art and activations as a means of creative resistance. Such socially engaged work has carried into their two gallery spaces at 77 East Third Street and 119 Hester Street.

Website: www.allstnyc.com Instagram: @all.st.nyc