About Amber Eve
Amber Eve Anderson is a conceptual artist whose work considers the ways identity and behavior are informed by one's surroundings, both physical and virtual. Oftentimes, this begins in the context of the home and extends from the objects and ideas therein to the cities and landscapes beyond. She combines everyday objects with text and digital ephemera, such as screenshots from her smartphone, in playful and poetic ways that reflect her personal experience. The work calls attention… more
A Demographic Case Study (35-44, woman, Baltimore)
"A Demographic Case Study (35-44, woman, Baltimore)" is an archive of every ad that I viewed on Instagram over a one-week period. Composed of 126 images that almost exclusively depict household goods, the archive presents a self-portrait through the lens of targeted advertising. Objects ranging from rugs to sofas to earrings to soap portrayed amidst orderly, plant-filled, sun-dappled rooms, suggest affluence, aesthetic integrity, and a good night of sleep. The work calls attention to everyday technologies by upsetting the usual means of interaction while also functioning as a playful critique in order to explore how identity is reduced by consumerism. This work was exhibited in my solo exhibition "This is Who I Am Now" at H-Space in Washington, DC.
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A Demographic Case Study (35-44, woman, Baltimore)
"A Demographic Case Study" is a sculptural installation of 126 Instagram ads viewed over a one-week period
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Detail of Living Room ads
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Complete list of Instagram ads
Spread from "Ad Words" (a companion text to my solo exhibition "This is Who I Am Now") listing every ad viewed over a one-week period including the date and time it was viewed.
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Exhibition Layout
Spread from "Ad Words" (a companion text to my solo exhibition "This is Who I Am Now") showing the gallery layout as seen in the first image
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Detail of Rugs ads
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Installation Image
"Rugs" seen in the foreground and "Beds" in the back corner
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Detail of Beds ads
All of the bedding (top) and mattress (bottom) advertisements viewed on Instagram during a one-week period
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Detail of Exterior ads
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Detail of Travel ads
The single travel-related ad I viewed on Instagram over the course of one week
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Installation View 2
Ad Words
"Ad Words" is a companion text for my solo exhibtion "This is Who I Am Now" at H-Space in Washington, DC. The book features 11 AI-generated poems based on captions from "A Demographic Case Study," an archive of 126 ads I viewed on Instagram during a one-week period.
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Exhibition Companion
Cover of the exhibition companion along with the first two pages of the book.
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Front Cover
8 x 5", Staple-bound, 39 pages
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Index
Two-page spread showing the book's index
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Poem 2: Make the Most of the Hard Work
AI-generated poem based on the captions from one-week of Instagram ads
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Poem 7: Everything You're Looking for, Perfect for Your Life
AI-generated poem based on the captions from one-week of Instagram ads
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Poem 11: BREATHEFREE
AI-generated poem based on the captions from one-week of Instagram ads
Accumulations
"Accumulations" consists of one-of-a-kind objects and images displayed in white frames, including torn wrapping paper, yellow tissues, a map, and pine needles, among other things. The work was exhibited alongside the installation of Instagram ads in my solo exhibition and acts as an alternative self-portrait.
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Accumulations (1-17)
Series of 17 frames containing photographs and found objects; each frame measures 12x9 inches.
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Accumulations #6-9
Detail of "Accumulations (1-17)" showing frames containing: a card with the letter "U" in a floral script, a photograph of the sunset, a plastic baggie containing seeds, and yellow tissues.
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Accumulations #1
The beginning and end of "Accumulations (1-17)" depict the backside of photographs describing my great grandmother's house.
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Accumulations #2
The second frame in "Accumulations (1-17)" contains an empty blue tissue packet.
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Accumulations #3
The third frame in "Accumulations (1-17)" contains a large pressed dried flower.
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Accumulations #4
The fourth frame in "Accumulations (1-17)" contains used wrapping paper depicting realistic pine branches.
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Accumulations #17
The beginning and end of "Accumulations (1-17)" depict the backside of photographs describing my great grandmother's house.
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Accumulations (18-21)
Set of four frames containing photographs and found objects related to roses; each frame measures 12x9 inches.
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Accumulations (22-24)
Set of three frames containing photographs and found objects; each frame measures 12x9 inches.
Homestead
Homestead is an interdisciplinary project that situates my matrilineage alongside larger notions of landscape, home, and gender. In 1873, ten miles south of my native Nebraska and an hour's drive from the geographic center of the United States, my great-great-great-grandparents claimed land under the Homestead and Timber Culture Acts. The landscape is now vast, indistinguishable farmland. History reveals more absences than answers. Two 150-year-old trees at the site and a enarby pioneer cemetery where my maternal granmother, her mother, and her mother's mother are all buried, are vague markers of this history. In my return to this land, my matrilineage is subsumed by Mother Nature. The work archives and memorializes what remains of this place—personally significatn and universally forgtten—while considering the ways certain histories are privileged over others.
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Old Oak
Installation using Digital Photograph on Fabric with adhesive backing, Found paint swatches, Pressed cottonwood buds, Rconstructed historical book, Pillowcase embroidered by my grandmother, Tree limb, House paint
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Certain Histories
9" x 12" Digital Photograph of my great-great-great-grandmother standing in front of the now-dying cottonwood that marks the land homesteaded by my ancestors
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Homestead
This video touches on the history of my great-great-great grandparents who claimed land under the Homestead and Timber Culture Acts. The landscape, now vast, indistinguishable farmland, reveals more absences than answers. Two 150-year-old trees at the site and a nearby pioneer cemetery where my maternal grandmother, her mother, and her mother's mother are all buried, are vague markers of this history. In returning to this land, my matrilineage is subsumed by Mother Nature.
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Detail of Old Oak
Digital Photograph, Pressed Cottonwood Buds
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Detail of Old Oak picturing reconstructed historical book
The text on the open page refers to my great-great-great grandfather.
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Detail of Old Oak showing paint swatches and envelope
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Farmingdale
Installation of photographs, tracing paper, found objects, dirt, and vinyl
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Farmingdale detail
Framed photographs and found objects
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Detail of Personal Archives
Cicada found at the National Homestead Monument preserved in resin
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Timescales
Timescales, Two-channel Video Installation
DIRT
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DIRTVintage copy of the board game RISK turned into a pop-up garden.
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DIRTDIRT considers the ways that land is defined and occupied. This image shows the board game box with the army pieces replaced by various seeds significant to my childhood upbringing.
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DIRTI replaced the deck of cards with an accordion book with related found objects and imagery.
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DIRTDetail of the accordion book
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DIRTDetail of the accordion book
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DIRTIn place of the rule book, I made a zine that is a meditation on the plants that defined my childhood home.
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DIRTThese pages reflect on the peony bushes that lined the fence in my parents' backyard and the black locust tree in the front yard.
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DIRTDetail of the board game-turned pop-up garden.
Things I Don't Remember
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Things I Don't RememberPostcards based on an enlarged image from my first trip to Montreal a decade earlier.
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Things I Don't RememberScreenshot from Facebook of four photos I posted from my first trip to Montreal in 2008.
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Things I Don't RememberEnlarged image of the first photograph I posted to Facebook from my first trip to Montreal turned into 168 postcards.
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Things I Don't RememberTop left postcard of the enlarged image, free for viewers to take.
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Things I Don't RememberPostcards as installed at ICA Baltimore.
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Things I Don't RememberReverse side of all of the postcards in the installation.
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Things I Don't RememberDetail of postcard image
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Things I Don't RememberDetail of postcard image
Apartment 404 Not Found
For Apartment 404 Not Found I moved my home into the gallery. I then documented the installation as a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) image before removing all of the furniture. A half-circle "orientation table" similar to what you might find at a hilltop vista, sits in the center of the space, the absent objects depicted on its surface. The dislocation of relocation is exemplified by the juxtaposition of physically standing in a vacant space while viewing that same space in virtual reality filled with the belongings of home. The furniture from the installation—packed atop a moving pallet, wrapped in plastic—became a sculptural object alongside the VR installation. My home remained empty for the duration of the exhibition.
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Virtual Reality installation
Viewer using virtual reality headset in the gallery space to view the installation of my home in the same gallery space.
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Gallery installation
The table in the center with the virtual reality headset, the two white blinds hanging from the ceiling, and the door frame to the right are all part of the installation. The blinds and the doorframe are also in the virtual reality installation.
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View of Virtual Reality Installation
Snapshot of what the viewer would see in the VR headset, which was my living room installed in the same gallery space. See full 360-degree image here: https://goo.gl/maps/Dq7a3Rz6vpr
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Orientation Table
At the center of the room, the orientation table depicted drawn items from the virtual reality installation along with descriptions of the objects.
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Apartment 404 Not Found
Video documentation of Apartment 404 Not Found showing a side-by-side comparison of the gallery space and the virtual reality image.
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Apartment 404 Not Found
Outside of the gallery, all of the furniture from the virtual reality installation in the gallery was packed on top of a moving pallet and wrapped in plastic.
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Doorway to Apartment 404
Image of my front door with a gallery label beside the number 404.
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Empty Apartment 404
An image of my apartment, emptied of all its furniture, for the duration of the exhibition.
Free to a Good Home
Free to a Good Home is an attempt to understand the meaning of home based on the things within it. Each page documents an object advertised for ‘free to a good home’ on Craigslist and the subsequent email exchanges with anonymous users. At times poetic, at times mundane, everyday objects gain importance through personal histories and associations. The online performance, enacted in real life, offers a glimpse into the potential of online interactions. From a classic 1940s sofa to an underwater camera case, the ephemera of one home assumes life in another, each object threading together every home. Free to a Good Home was purchased by the New York Public Library and is sold at Printed Matter, the world's leading non-profit for artist books.
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Cover
11 x 8.5", Perfect-bound, 141 pages
Available for Purchasehttps://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/artist/30650
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classic 1940s sofa
Two-page spread from Free to a Good Home showing a screenshot from Craigslist for a red 1940s sofa and the resulting email exchange.
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7" Braid of Bison Grass
Screenshot of bison grass ad that I posted to Craigslist.
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Two-page Spread
Screenshot of Bison Grass ad (from previous image) along with resulting email exchanges.
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Tune of a Dove According to a Wind Chime
Two-page spread showing screenshot of Craigslist ad for a CD recording of a wind chime along with resulting email exchanges.