John Chiara: California

Join Aperture for an artist talk with John Chiara about his forthcoming publication John Chiara: California (Aperture/ Pier 24 Photography, 2017), followed by a book signing.

The highly anticipated first book from artist John Chiara, this volume the features surreal and thrilling landscapes and architectural images for which he has become known. Chiara creates his own cameras and chemical processes in order to make unique photographs using the direct exposure of light onto paper— and each resulting image is a singular, luminous object. Featuring images taken in the artist’s hometown of San Francisco and other locations along the Pacific Coast, alongside an essay by Virginia Heckert situating Chiara’s work in the landscape tradition of the American West and discusses this process-driven work.

John Chiara (born in San Francisco, 1971) received a BFA in photography from the University of Utah in 1995 and an MFA in photography from the California College of the Arts in 2004.  Most recently, he was artist in residence at Budapest Art Factory (2017) and Crown Point Press, San Francisco (2006, 2016). His work has been exhibited at the George Eastman Museum, Museum of Photographic Arts, Harry Ransom Center, Getty Museum, Americas Art Gallery, and Pier 24 photography, among others. In 2011 and 2013, the Pilara Foundation in San Francisco commissioned work that was included in group exhibitions at Pier 24 Photography.

Image: John Chiara, Radio Terrace at 14th Street; Rockridge Drive, Larsen Peak, San Francisco, 2013; from John Chiara: California (Aperture/ Pier 24 Photography, 2017) © John Chiara

Aperture’s exhibitions and programs are also funded, in part, with support from the Grace Jones Richardson Trust, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.