Child's Play_ Dazed Magazine

_{Growing up is hard to do. Any one at the Puffin Room in SoHo on Saturday night would have agreed. Some even had the scars to prove it. Among them were the nineteen young artists who took part in “the Playground,” a showcase curated by Jillian Leigh Federman and Tanya Rosenstein with help from New York City-based photographer Dana Lauren Goldstein. Their collaborative effort, which began over the summer, resulted in an imaginative look into adolescence and what it means to grow up. For some, it is something better left forgotten. But for others, it is something to be cherished and celebrated, even prolonged. In his photos, Ben Rayner captured his friends during their wild nights in London while Anton Glamb gathered remnants of a heavy night of partying for his installation. Scott Shannon chose to use Crayola Crayons to draw portraits of himself and an ex-girlfriend while Will Robbins constructed a larger-than-life rosary made entirely of jacks and Suzette Lee constructed a life-sized teepee out of paper. Among the other artists featured in the show are: Jonathan Beer, Claudia Bumbac, Tim Diet, Peter Giang, Jason Matthew Lee, Jimmy Limit, Jonathan Matas, Ian McGillivray, Pablo Power, Emma Sheriden, Gordon Stevenson and Robert S L Waltzer. The show also featured work by Federman, whose two pieces were inspired by and included real objects from her childhood, and Goldstein, whose photography showcased the marks of adolescence as experience by her friends – scars, bruises, bloody noses and all.“There’s a time in your life when you have to grow up,” Goldstein says. “You realize then that the world isn’t such a pretty place unless you make it. In New York, you get disregarded because of your age. We’re just trying to show people that it’s not how old you are, but what you make of everything that matters.” Rosenstein agrees: “Young artists shouldn't be overlooked. We are the next generation, and we do have something to say.” So, fans, young and old, braved freezing temperatures to take part in the celebration because, in some way, we can all relate to memories of the blood, sweat and tears that go into keeping childhood dreams alive. Because although times may change, the act of growing up and learning to let go never does.}