Ned Axthelm
December 2nd and 3rd
Artist Statement: Empathy dominates my work. Relationships between figures within a painting draw the viewer’s attention to the connections between strangers. In exploring my own empathetic responses to people, I seek to create an immersive experience in which our similarities bond us to the strangers around us.
Bio: Ned Axthelm’s current paintings explore the private self that is brought into public and expose the unacknowledged power dynamics that exist between strangers. He chooses his subjects from strangers he encounters randomly and situations common to everyday urban living. His paintings are devoted to the relationship between viewing and being viewed. He earned his MFA at the Academy of Art University and paints the people of the San Francisco Bay area without their knowledge.