The Water is Warm

SPACE presents The Water is Warm, an installation by Anthony Bowers.

This dream-like installation explores the rich subject matter of pools, which tend to provide a collision between authenticity and artificiality on an architectural, historical, and social level. As sites of play and leisure that are public or private, pools become reflections of how we see class and collectivity; things that we often prefer to keep hidden can become exposed at the pool.

 Pools are weird. It is a strange thing to do; to fill a hole with chemical water and sit by it but we have all done it. Everyone has been to a pool, been self-conscious at a pool, been vulnerable or show-offy or mildly violent or relaxed or sexy at a pool. The combination of water and sun in a confined space, artificially removes some of the normal boundaries of social distance allowing us to be more open, more honest, and more real.

Accompanying the window gallery installation, The Water Is Warm, Anthony Bowers will discuss his work in relation to a short history of pools and class in America.

Anthony Bowers is an artist and educator working across media in painting, sculpture, and installation. Originally from the midwest, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 with an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and has worked in Philadelphia teaching at Drexel University, University of the Arts, and Cheltenham Center for the Arts, also working as a studio assistant on many large scale installation projects at the Fabric Workshop and Museum. Anthony also holds a BFA in Painting from Indiana University, he has been a resident at the Wassaic Projects and the Golden Foundation Painting Residency and he is a curator/member of an artist-run project space, FJORD Gallery.

Follow Anthony on Instagram @indietony