{"id":21424,"date":"2011-10-04T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=21424"},"modified":"2011-10-04T10:05:39","modified_gmt":"2011-10-04T14:05:39","slug":"shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/","title":{"rendered":"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_21584\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21584\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21584\" title=\"Shannon Ebner\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg 6675w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ-300x107.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ-1024x368.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-21584\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left: <em>XSYST<\/em>, 2011, 63 x 48 in.; <em>EKS<\/em>, 2011, 63 x 39.16 in.; <em>EKSIZ<\/em>, 2011, 63 x 42 in.; <em>XIS<\/em>, 2011, 63 x 48 in. All works black-and-white photographs. Courtesy of the artist and Wallspace, NY; Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco; kaufmann repetto, Milan.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the limits and loopholes of language. Photographs and sculptures from her new project, \u201cThe Electric Comma,\u201d are featured in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.labiennale.org\/en\/art\/exhibition\/\">54th Venice Biennale<\/a> and in a solo show at the <a href=\"http:\/\/hammer.ucla.edu\/exhibitions\/detail\/exhibition_id\/204\">Hammer Museum<\/a> in Los Angeles. Two new public sculptures, both titled <\/em>and, per se and<em>, accompany these shows and are installed, respectively, on the Grand Canal in Venice and in Culver City. Audiences in L.A. can see the eight-foot-tall solar-powered work on the northeast corner of Centinela Avenue and Washington Boulevard until October 14. Ebner\u2019s pictures of \u201canti-places\u201d and \u201canti-landscapes\u201d (for instance, dust from emergency road flares that appears to spell out a word) are on view at the Hammer until October 9. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>In the essay she wrote to accompany your exhibition at the Hammer, curator Anne Ellegood describes your work as \u201cmanifestly American.\u201d How does American identity relate to your recent pictures, and how does landscape figure in?\u00a0 <em> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Robert Smithson once asked if Passaic, New Jersey had replaced Rome as the eternal city, with buildings that rise into ruin rather than fall. It makes me realize that my interest in landscape\u2014for instance, in the work of an artist like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.robertmann.com\/artists\/deal\/image_23.html\">Joe Deal<\/a>, who made pictures from an elevated vantage point, with his camera high up on a bluff or hillside looking down at tract-housing neighborhoods\u2014has to do with this idea of falling while rising. I think that there is a connection between Salinger\u2019s <em>Catcher in the Rye<\/em> and Deal\u2019s vantage point. It seems to say that there could be some redemption, some possibility that the kids of those tract-housing communities could be saved from being <em>an American<\/em>, from rising to fall or, I guess I should say, rising to fail.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>How does the idea of the monument influence you? For instance, do you consider <em>and, per se and<\/em> a monument? And if so, to what?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t consider <em>and, per se and <\/em>to be a monument. If anything I would say it is more of an anti-monument, in the sense that it is fundamentally about incompleteness and requires the viewer do some work to fill in the blanks. It exists in two different states\u2014during the day, one can see the solar panel but not understand, or see, that it\u2019s storing energy so that the sculpture can be illuminated intermittently at night, like a signal. I had a number of other ideas about how the sculpture relates to photography and the sun, funny coincidental things like how the person who invented photovoltaic technology\u2014a Frenchman named Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel\u2014did so the same year that photography was invented, in 1839. But more than anything, what interests me about the sculpture is that it is never dormant and can exist in the continuous present, because it is either drawing energy from the sun or releasing that energy. And while I suppose one could have a monument that is living, as opposed to dead, I always think of monuments as being really super dead.<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_21433\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_Shannon_Ebner_public2_JPG_600x460_upscale_q85.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21433\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21433\" title=\"Shannon Ebner, and, per se, and, 2011.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_Shannon_Ebner_public2_JPG_600x460_upscale_q85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_Shannon_Ebner_public2_JPG_600x460_upscale_q85.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_Shannon_Ebner_public2_JPG_600x460_upscale_q85-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-21433\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shannon Ebner, <em>and, per se, and<\/em>, 2011, plywood. Installation view, Culver City, CA.<\/p><\/div> <div id=\"attachment_21432\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_MGP_0451_jpg_600x460_upscale_q85.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21432\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21432\" title=\"Shannon Ebner, and, per se, and, 2011.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_MGP_0451_jpg_600x460_upscale_q85.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"398\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_MGP_0451_jpg_600x460_upscale_q85.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/thumb_MGP_0451_jpg_600x460_upscale_q85-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-21432\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shannon Ebner, <em>and, per se, and<\/em>, 2011, plywood. Installation view, Culver City, CA.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p><strong>And then we have the strange history of the word <em>ampersand<\/em>. It was originally a phrase students recited at the end of the alphabet\u2014\u201cX, Y, Z, and per se and.\u201d In Latin, <em>per se<\/em> means \u201cby itself.\u201d And in your sculpture, we have the symbol both by itself and continually renewing itself. But what about a photograph? Can it exist in the continuous present? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <em>Oxford English Dictionary<\/em> says that the ampersand is a \u201ccorruption of \u2018<em>and<\/em> per se\u2014<em>and<\/em>,\u2019 the old way of spelling and naming the character &amp;; i.e. \u2018&amp; by itself = and.\u2019\u201d When I worked with the translator Jen Hofer on making a bilingual handout for the Culver City piece, she translated the title of the sculpture in Spanish to \u201c<em>y, per se y. el signo &amp;<\/em>,\u201d which I thought was quite beautiful.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21585\" style=\"width: 282px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/IMG_0311.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21585\" class=\"size-large wp-image-21585\" title=\"Shannon Ebner\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/IMG_0311-682x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"272\" height=\"409\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/IMG_0311-682x1024.jpg 682w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/IMG_0311-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/IMG_0311.jpg 933w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-21585\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shannon Ebner, <em>Incendiary Distress Signal No. 6<\/em>, 2011, black-and-white photograph. Courtesy the artist; Wallspace, New York; Altman Siegel, San Francisco; and kaufmann repetto, Milan.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As it turned out there is no term for <em>ampersand<\/em> in Spanish or, rather, the term used is \u201c<em>el signo &amp;<\/em>\u201d (the sign &amp;), meaning that the <em>&amp;<\/em> becomes part of the term for <em>ampersand<\/em>. I wonder how it translates in French?<\/p>\n<p>And as for your question about a photograph and whether it can exist in the continuous present, maybe it can\u2019t, but I am trying to figure it out regardless. I guess what I like about photographs of symbols is that they can redirect an image or create uncertainty and indeterminacy and suggest that one thing is two things or one thing is an incomplete thing, an incomplete picture. My hope is that the activity of\u00a0thinking about a photograph or a word or an isolated\u00a0symbol\u2014literally, the time it takes one to think\u2014places a person in\u00a0the continuous present.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the limits and loopholes of language. Photographs and sculptures from her new project, \u201cThe Electric Comma,\u201d are featured in the 54th Venice Biennale and in a solo show at the Hammer Museum [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":244,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[907],"tags":[4099,4097,910,4098,687,217,100,964,1818],"class_list":["post-21424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-at-work","tag-alexandre-edmond-becquerel","tag-installation-art","tag-j-d-salinger","tag-joe-deal","tag-language","tag-los-angeles","tag-photography","tag-sculpture","tag-the-catcher-in-the-rye"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present by Lauren O&#039;Neill-Butler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"October 4, 2011 \u2013 Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present by Lauren O&#039;Neill-Butler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 4, 2011 \u2013 Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-04T12:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-04T14:05:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"6675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren O&#039;Neill-Butler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lauren O&#039;Neill-Butler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lauren O'Neill-Butler\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/656b1503e630c734bda079a440f2e748\"},\"headline\":\"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-04T12:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-04T14:05:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/\"},\"wordCount\":918,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel\",\"installation art\",\"J. D. Salinger\",\"Joe Deal\",\"language\",\"Los Angeles\",\"photography\",\"sculpture\",\"The Catcher in the Rye\"],\"articleSection\":[\"At Work\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/\",\"name\":\"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present by Lauren O'Neill-Butler\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-04T12:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-10-04T14:05:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"October 4, 2011 \u2013 Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/656b1503e630c734bda079a440f2e748\",\"name\":\"Lauren O'Neill-Butler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767074d8eff5ce4fa9f2ed91af88d3a3e146740a6694dace6e1b34e181805dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767074d8eff5ce4fa9f2ed91af88d3a3e146740a6694dace6e1b34e181805dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lauren O'Neill-Butler\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/lobutler\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present by Lauren O'Neill-Butler","description":"October 4, 2011 \u2013 Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present by Lauren O'Neill-Butler","og_description":"October 4, 2011 \u2013 Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2011-10-04T12:00:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-10-04T14:05:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":6675,"height":2400,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lauren O'Neill-Butler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lauren O'Neill-Butler","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/"},"author":{"name":"Lauren O'Neill-Butler","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/656b1503e630c734bda079a440f2e748"},"headline":"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present","datePublished":"2011-10-04T12:00:10+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-04T14:05:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/"},"wordCount":918,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg","keywords":["Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel","installation art","J. D. Salinger","Joe Deal","language","Los Angeles","photography","sculpture","The Catcher in the Rye"],"articleSection":["At Work"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/","name":"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present by Lauren O'Neill-Butler","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg","datePublished":"2011-10-04T12:00:10+00:00","dateModified":"2011-10-04T14:05:39+00:00","description":"October 4, 2011 \u2013 Shannon Ebner is a Los Angeles\u2013based artist known for using handmade letters, symbols, signs, and other means of representation to call attention to the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/4X_COMPOZ.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/10\/04\/shannon-ebner-the-continuous-present\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shannon Ebner: The Continuous Present"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/656b1503e630c734bda079a440f2e748","name":"Lauren O'Neill-Butler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767074d8eff5ce4fa9f2ed91af88d3a3e146740a6694dace6e1b34e181805dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767074d8eff5ce4fa9f2ed91af88d3a3e146740a6694dace6e1b34e181805dd2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lauren O'Neill-Butler"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/lobutler\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21424"}],"version-history":[{"count":61,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21800,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21424\/revisions\/21800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}