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Ward Shelley

“Teenagers, V.2,” 2015, Oil and toner on mylar, 34.5 x 61 inches

“Facts are like dots on a graph. The narrative is the curve that connects them, that gives isolated data points meaning, and gives meaning shape. This particular graphical metaphor for a theory of epistemology emerges naturally from the way I have come to create timelines, which I consider pictures of narratives.

The concept of teenagers as a distinct category of human beings didn’t really exist until very modern times (the word itself was coined after World War II), but has become an article of faith. Catalyzed by this distinction, teens themselves created a fascinating array of creeds which I chart in ‘Teenagers’.”