Artist Statement

I photograph the landscape using long exposures that negate present activity, but at the same time record the photographic event. My art practice is part photography, part event, and part sculpture – an undertaking in apparatus and patience.

Memory is central to my photographic methodology. I’m interested in an experiment that has parameters of my own creation. Ones that include the failure of the process. Feedback from this process feels akin to noise from reconciliation and/or psychological processes involving the recording and recounting of memory.

JOHN CHIARA

VISUAL ARTIST / PHOTOGRAPHER

SAN FRANCISCO, CA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2008 Land's End, Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY

Land's End: Starr King, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007 Club Sportiva, Sponsored by Gen Art and Johnny Walker, San Francisco, CA

2003 BUILD Gallery, San Francisco, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011 Survey Exhibition on Contemporary and Historical Photography from the Bay Area, Pilara Foundation, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA

San Francisco Views, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

Summer Photography Exhibition, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Control Room, NOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA

California Continued: New Approaches to West Coast Photography, Smith Anderson North, Marin, CA

2010 There is a Way in Which, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

Edges of Light, Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA

Summer Group Show, Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY

You and Me Living Today / Vol. 2 / The Land, Gallery Four, Baltimore, MD

Alchemy, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA

Front and Center, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marin, CA

2009 John Chiara : Sean McFarland, Swimming Pool Gallery, Chicago, IL

An Autobiography of the San Francisco Bay Area, Part One. SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA

Live & Direct, Ping Pong Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Printing a Photograph as an Etching, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

2008 Summer Group Show, Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY

Innovation in Tradition,, San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, CA

Winter Group Show, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

2007 Urban Landscapes, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

Visual Alchemy, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA

2006 Awesome: The Contemporary Sublime, Playspace Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Landscapes: John Chiara and Tom Marioni, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

2005 The Photograph in Question, Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY

Lands End - New Work by John Chiara and Liz Walsh, Adobe Books, San Francisco, CA

2004 Masters of Fine Arts Exhibition, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2003 All College Honors Exhibition, North/South Gallery, Oakland, CA

2002 Pin Up Show, Playspace Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000 Z Program - Infinite, Pamela Z Performance / Collaboration, Theater Artaud, San Francisco, CA

1995 Fifth Utah Photographic Biennial, Nora Eccles Museum of Fine Art, Logan, UT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2010Bamberger, Alan. Eleanor Harwood: John Chiara, ArtBusiness.com, November

Johnson, Martin L. Chewing the Scenery, Baltimore City Paper, August 25th

Dawson, Jessica. Portrait of an Artist as an Old Landscape, The Washington Post, August 13th

Scholz, Zachary Royer. Alchemy, Art Practical, March

Vobis, Annelies. Alchemy, Goup Exhibition, Art Business, March

Scholz, Zachary Royer. Front + Center: Weather Streams, Art Practical, January

2009 Pearson, Laura. John Chiara : Sean McFarland, TimeOut Magazine, November

Houston, Johnny Ray. The Photo Issue: John Chiara, San Francisco Bay Gardian, August 5th

Ishola, Olubunmi. John Chiara, SCI Q Magazine, January, p.24

2008 Helfland, Glen. John Chiara, Art Forum Magazine, November, p.359-360

Bennett, Kim. John Chiara at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Art Week Magazine, November p.15-16

Ryan, Christine. Watch This Space, 7X7 Magazine, November p.121

Bamberger, Alan. Eleanor Harwood: John Chiara, ArtBusiness.com, September

Aletti, Vince. Goings On About Town, John Chiara, The New Yorker, February 25th, p.16

Wolff, Rachel. John Chiara is His Own Camera, New York Magazine, February 26th

Baker, R.C. Best in Show: Big Shots, The Village Voice, February 12th

Hicks, Erin. Camera Obscura, BlackBook Magazine, February 21st

Daily Candy, New York. See John Chiara, February 21st

Roaff, Peggy. John Chiara - Lands End, Design Arts Daily Telegraph, January 23rd

Bennett, Kim. Imperfect Beauty, A Conversation with John Chiara, ARTICLE, art and the

         imaginative promise, Summer pp. 2-6

2007 Spicer, Jakki K. On the Wall, East Bay Express, March 21

Harmanci, Reyhan. Special pairings, 'Visual Alchemy' Exhibition brings together diverse artists a

          different stages, San Francisco Chronicle, February

2006 Twomey, Chris. The Photograph In Question at Von Lintel Gallery, M: The New York Art World,

          September Edition.

PUBLICATIONS

2011 Interview with Artist Portfolio, PHOTO WORLD, Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, China

2010 An Autobiography of the San Francisco Bay Area, Part One. San Francisco Plays Itself,

          SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA

2007 Artist Portfolio, Blind Spot, 36th Edition,  Beshty, Breuer, Chiara, Deschenes, Fischer, Fontcuberta, Kloehn, Signer

Works on Paper Originally in B&W, ZYZZYVA, Issue 79, the last word: west coast writers & artists, Spring, pp. 133-135

2004 Artist Portfolio, Eleven Eleven, Annual Journal of Literature and Art. May

DOCUMENTARIES 

2007 Inside Crown Point Press, Spark, Television Documentary, KQED, Channel 9, February

2006 Experimenting, Spark, Television Documentary, KQED, Channel 9, May

REPRESENTATION

Thomas Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY

Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

COLLECTIONS

Pilara Foundation, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA

General Gallery Collection, Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY

Flat Files Collection, Pierogi 2000, Williamsburg, NY

General Gallery Collection, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA

Crown Point Press Archive, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Crown Point Press Archive, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

HONORS & AWARDS

2010  Headlands Center for the Arts, Artist in Residence, Marin, CA

Gallery Four, Artist in Residence, Baltimore, MD

2006 Crown Point Press, Artist in Residence, San Francisco, CA

Spark Education Honorarium, KQED

COMMISIONS

2011 Pilara Foundation, San Francisco, CA

2009SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA

EDUCATION

2004 MFA, Photography, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

1995 BFA, Photography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT