For his first solo exhibition at Civilian, Frank DiPerna presents never before exhibited work photographed over the last five years in the U.S. and abroad. One part street photographer, one part careful composer, DiPerna’s work transcends the tangle of busy and overabundant locations flooded with multiple activities and agendas. Drawn to color, advertisement, the representation of humans, and the other formal concerns of a fine art photographer, DiPerna has created images whose disparate layers of commonly encountered landscapes coalesce into successful, stand-alone images. Within the photographic lens, he makes order and beauty through unexpected connections and parallels.
According to DiPerna, the exhibition was almost called “The Presence of Representational Imagery in the Urban Landscape” or “ Back to My Roots.” Both are appropriate titles speaking truth to content, but in the end, the titling became simplified -- like the work itself.
According to the artist, “I have an ongoing interest in the presence of other imagery (pictures) in the landscape and what they say about a culture. Beyond what the images might reference, there is the pure pleasure of finding them, and using photography to construct an image that represents how I see, use color and shape to form the world into a rectangle.”
DiPerna writes, “My approach to photography has always relied on direct vision as a way of working. I respond to the information in front of me and interpret it to create an illusion, make what appears normal seem strange or perhaps slightly humorous. My intent is to create work that is a bit odd, formally coherent and visually inviting.”
DiPerna is currently the Ruesch Family Professor of Photography at the Corcoran College of Art and Design where he has been teaching since 1972. Since the founding of the gallery, Civilian has worked with photographers taught and trained by DiPerna over his forty year career as a photographer and professor. His work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. He is also represented in many collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Bibliotheque Nationale, The Center for Creative Photography, Library of Congress and The Virginia Museum among others. He has had several residencies including the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France; Lightwork in Syracuse, NY; The Pittman Study Away Program in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and the Vermont Studio Center. He studied photography at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY with Nathan Lyons, Ralph Gibson and Syl Labrot. He also studied with Gary Winogrand. He has an MA degree in photography from Goddard College and Bachelor's degree in engineering from Virginia Tech.
September 14 – October 20, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, September 14, 2012, 7-9pm
For his first solo exhibition at Civilian, Frank DiPerna presents never before exhibited work photographed over the last five years in the U.S. and abroad. One part street photographer, the other a careful composer, DiPerna’s work transcends the tangle of activities and agendas in busy locations to discover order and beauty in unexpected connections and parallels.
