Paul Shambroom Completes MassMoCA Residency

Since October 2015, The Studios at MASS MoCA have hosted over 400 artists and writers for residencies up to 10 weeks.

Hosted by MASS MoCA’s Assets for Artists program, selected artists receive private studio space on MASS MoCA’s campus and newly renovated housing.

Paul Shambroom was awarded one of these prestigious residencies, and has been using the resources of the Massachussetts Museum of Contemporary Art to make progress on his ongoing project "Past Time."

During my residency I have been photographing a Disney World Main Street Play Set, circa 1988. The attached image is based on a painting (also attached) of the same subject by American artist Thomas Kinkade (1958-2012). I am also photographing a jigsaw puzzle of the same Kinkade painting. “Past Time: Troubled Visons of the Good Old Days” explores the political and cultural embrace of an idealized America that never existed for many. It contrasts popular imagery of our past with photographs of contemporary life taken in locations that helped form the notion of the “good old days.” My time at MassMOCA includes a recent studio aspect- photographing puzzles and other material depicting idealized American scenes.