Artist Statement
The constant challenge of communicating today has been a driving force for much of my work. Like almost everyone, I, too, am plagued with the problem of being too connected. Whereas people used to share their thoughts and ideas face to face, today we pull away and hide behind the efficiency and anonymity of computer screens and mobile devices. They allow us to experience life from a safe distance, with an inflated sense of confidence and a false sense of security. My photos are a product of this age of digital detachment: the tense and introspective images I create allow me to share the details I want the viewer to see, while conveniently withholding others. But this is part of a process in which I find myself increasingly obscured. I have discovered that even when photographing my closest friends, lovers, and family, I keep people at a distance for reasons I do not yet understand. My work, then, is itself a challenge, reflecting the struggle to connect with the person I have become as I strive to communicate with others.
Steven Alvarez was born in Groton, Connecticut in 1987. Raised in Maine, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2005 to study at the University of the Arts. In 2009, he graduated with honors with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Photography. Alvarez has exhibited throughout the states including Gallery 339, the F.U.E.L. Collection, and Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wall-space gallery in Santa Barbara, California and Seattle, Washington. In the spring of 2011 Alvarez was chosen as a Selected US Winner by the Magenta Foundation Publishing for the Arts as part of the Flash Forward – Emerging Photographers 2011 publication, which was released in October of 2011. Alvarez continues to reside in Philadelphia and currently works at Gallery 339, the only fine art photography gallery in Philadephia, and TA’s with Sarah Van Keuren at the University of the Arts for the Advanced Non-Silver Printmaking Class.
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