Gupta, Amar

Exhibit guide for Amar Gupta's art show Out of Service http://www.amaragupta.com/. "An ongoing photographic series of 4x5 inch (10x12.5cm) negative portraits of service industry workers based out of Austin, Texas. On March 17, the city of Austin closed all bars, venues, and dine-in restaurants in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Service industry workers and live performers alike have been stuck in limbo ever since—myself included, and it seemed as if there truly was no end in sight. These industry workers are the lifeblood of small business in central Texas. At the time, many Texans were unsure if the places they’ve worked would ever reopen. Several staples of Austin simply could not recover from the economic distress this virus caused—Threadgill's, The North Door, and Shady Grove are just a few of the long-standing local favorites to close permanently. Now, as we enter 2021 with an ever-growing number of deaths due to the coronavirus, a new era of uncertainty around the service industry a