Artist Reception: Saturday, June 3rd | 6-8pm

For a limited engagement, Themes+Projects presents, “Focused” by Owen Merritt. “Focused,” is an exhibition of sixteen photographs by the 11-year-old artist. Owen’s art came to the attention of gallery directors, Mark Pinsukanjana and Bryan Yedinak, when a curating partner brought in his work. “Owen’s vision to capture interest and beauty in the mundane is inspiring,” says Pinsukanjana. “After more than 100 photo exhibitions, over the last 15 years, it became clear to us that the gallery should start showing exceptional young talent. Owen will be the charter exhibit for our new program, which fosters arts for the youth.”

Owen has a distinct point of view, zooming in close and looking for perspectives, angles, and frames that bring out something unexpected and even unrecognizable. Specifically, Owen is in pursuit a novelty way of seeing something that hasn’t yet been discovered. 

Recently, Owen applied for a middle-school scholarship and won! As part of the application process, Owen created a website to display his work from “Focused.” Owen says, “I called it that not only because I like to focus on things up close, but because I can focus when I take pictures. It’s sometimes hard for me to focus on other things, like schoolwork. But I can totally focus on taking pictures.”

Click here to preview the exhibition.