CHARIS AMMON : Pedestrian
Dec 15, 2025 - Jan 24, 2026
Sargent's Daughters, 370 Broadway, New York, NY 10013
It’s a gallery I visit from time to time, and although I hadn't planned it, I stepped inside because of the compelling painting exhibition on display. Though it was my first time encountering this artist, the work was so good that I made sure to take photos to share with you all.
Originally from Texas and now based in Brooklyn, Charis Ammon is a painter who meticulously observes streetscapes and translates them onto canvas. The images she selects are fascinating—common New York sights that carry a strong sense of contemporaneity. Her use of color and technique is so intriguing that she is definitely an artist to watch in the future.
보행자 Pedestrian
사전트 도터스(Sargent's Daughters)는 카리스 아몬(Charis Ammon)의 갤러리 두 번째 개인전인 《보행자(Pedestrian)》를 개최하게 되어 기쁩니다. 브루클린을 기반으로 활동하는 아몬은 일상의 산책 중 촬영한 사진을 바탕으로 관찰 회화를 작업합니다. 그녀는 대부분이 간과하는 공간 속 공유된 서사의 흔적들을 포착하며, 관객들에게 속도를 늦추고 주변 세계를 면밀히 살필 것을 권합니다. 이번 신작에서 아몬은 뉴욕의 보도(sidewalk)와 어디에나 있는 상점들—중국집, 보데가, 세탁소, 꽃집, 바—에 시선을 고정합니다.
전시 제목인 《Pedestrian》은 도시를 가로지르는 움직임을 뜻하기도 하지만, 이러한 공간들이 중요하지 않거나 주목받지 못한다고 여겨지는 방식을 반영하기도 합니다. 그러나 아몬에게 보도는 배경에 상관없이 모두가 지나야 하는 '위대한 평등의 공간'입니다. 그녀는 "나에게 '보행자(pedestrian)'라는 소재는 반사된 힘, 즉 평등한 조건의 현실을 담고 있다"고 말합니다. 우리가 공간을 살아가고 이동하는 현실을 그림으로써, 그녀는 흔하디흔한 장소의 구체적인 디테일이 어떻게 독특하고 친숙한 무언가로 변모하는지 보여줍니다.
19세기 파리의 플라뇌르(flâneur, 산책자)가 일상을 기록했듯, 평범하고 보잘것없는 것에 대한 예찬은 사실 미술사의 중요한 전통입니다. 아몬은 화가다운 붓터치로 도시 공간의 생생한 질감을 포착하며 이 전통에 참여합니다. 그녀는 특히 거리에서 보이는 것과 보이지 않는 것—유리나 플라스틱에 반사된 빛, 간판을 가로지르는 그림자, 공간 깊숙한 곳의 어둠—에 집중합니다.
아몬의 작은 작품들은 스냅샷의 느낌을 주며, 대형 작품들은 실제 상점 크기에 가깝게 제작되었습니다. 여러 개의 캔버스 패널로 구성된 이 거대한 작업들은 상점 안을 들여다보는 창문과 같습니다. 아몬은 유리가 만들어내는 왜곡과 반사를 그대로 포착하여, 관객이 밖에서 안을 들여다보고 있음을 상기시킵니다. 시각은 언제나 맥락에 따라 달라질 수 있다는 점이 바로 '보는 행위'를 흥미롭게 만든다는 것이 작가의 생각입니다.
Pedestrian
Sargent’s Daughters is pleased to present Pedestrian, Charis Ammon’s (b. 1992, Dallas, TX) second exhibition with the gallery. Based in Brooklyn, Ammon produces observational paintings drawn from photographs taken during her daily wanderings. Her work captures traces of shared narratives in spaces that most overlook, asking viewers to slow down and look closely at the world around them. In this new body of work, Ammon focuses her gaze on the sidewalks of New York and its omnipresent storefronts — Chinese takeout restaurants, bodegas, dry cleaners, flower shops, and bars.
The show’s title, Pedestrian, invokes this movement through the city, but also reflects the way these types of spaces are considered unimportant or below notice. Yet for Ammon, the sidewalk serves as “a great equalizer,” a space that everyone regardless of background has to navigate. She writes, “To me, ‘pedestrian’ subject matter holds a power of reflection—a reality of equal terms. In human history, we’ve created hierarchies and financial systems to rank each other, but we all are still a body that needs to move from point A to point B.” By painting the reality of the way we live and move through space, she reveals how the specific details of these places transform the ubiquitous into something uniquely familiar, suggesting a shared experience and level of access.
The pedestrian point of view was central to the development of modern art in the nineteenth century, as the Parisian flâneur wandered the city, documenting scenes of everyday life. An appreciation for the quotidian and the unremarkable was central to setting movements like Realism, Impressionism, and even Cubism apart from their forebearers. In the mid-twentieth century, this concept was picked up by Situationists like Guy Débord, whose concept of the dérive suggested that unplanned wandering of the city, guided by desire and observation, could be a means of escaping the alienation and control of modern life.
Ammon’s work engages with this art historical and theoretical tradition by capturing the lived textures of urban space through painterly brushstrokes. However, her work goes further and locates the viewer of her work on the sidewalk with her, in a shared public space. Ammon is preoccupied by what can and cannot be seen from the street – the disruptions created by the reflection of light across glass or plastic, the shadows cutting across a sign, the darkness in the back of a space. The viewer joins in her observations and interests, navigating the spaces she creates.
Ammon’s small works replicate the sensation of a snapshot, while her large paintings are nearly to scale with the storefronts she depicts. In these monumental compositions, multiple individual canvas panels are each a window into the stores. Though painting has long been described as a window, Ammon takes that literally and captures the distortions and reflections produced by glass. The viewer is reminded that they are outside looking in, unable to access a single clear image, catching only glimpses of the worlds that exist behind security gates and neon text. Yet the intense specificity of these spaces allows for points of connection between the viewer and the image, offering alternate paths toward a shared reality. For Ammon, vision is always fallible and contextual, and this is what makes the act of looking so interesting.
계획에 없던 방문이었지만, 뉴욕의 일상을 이토록 성실하고 감각적으로 포착한 작업을 만난 건 행운이었어요. 우리가 무심코 지나치는 길 위의 풍경들이 작가의 붓끝에서 특별한 질감으로 살아나는 과정이 흥미로웠구요. 익숙한 보데가와 세탁소의 유리창이 빛을 머금고 캔버스에 옮겨질 때, 비로소 도시는 하나의 거대한 작품이 된다는걸 깨달았어요.
갤러리는 주로 여성 작가나 정체성이 뚜렷한 신진 작가들을 아주 세련되게 소개하기로 유명하다고해요. 대형 메가 갤러리보다는 작지만, 뉴욕의 젊은 컬렉터들이 가장 주목하는 '보석 같은 갤러리' 중 하나라고 하구요 트라이베카의 감각적인 갤러리 중 하나에요. 다음전시가 기대되는 갤러리와 작가였어요. 감사합니다.
Although it was an unplanned visit, it was a stroke of luck to encounter work that captures the daily life of New York with such sincerity and sensibility. It was fascinating to see the roadside scenes we often overlook come to life with a unique texture through the artist’s brushstrokes. I realized that when the familiar glass windows of bodegas and dry cleaners capture the light and are transferred onto the canvas, the city truly becomes one giant masterpiece.
This gallery is well-known for its sophisticated introductions of female artists and emerging creators with distinct identities. While smaller than the mega-galleries, it is regarded as a ‘hidden gem’ that New York’s young collectors pay close attention to, making it one of the trendiest spots in Tribeca. I am truly looking forward to the next exhibition from both this gallery and the artist. Thank you.