John Chiara (b. 1971) received a B.F.A. in Photography from University of Utah in 1994, an M.F.A. in Photography from California College of the Arts in 2004, and was recently an artist in residence at Crown Point Press (2006).

Chiara photographs cityscapes in a process that is part photography, part event and part sculpture – an undertaking in apparatus and patience.  Many times this process involves composing pictures from the inside of a large hand-built camera, that is mounted on a flatbed trailer, and produces large scale, one of a kind, positive exposures. Chiara is a native Californian who lives and works in San Francisco.


Upcoming Exhibition:
Innovation in Tradition
Curated by Muriel Maffre
Starts April 1st, 2008
San Francisco War Memorial Opera House
401 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA


Recent Exhibition:
Land's End
Solo Exhibition
January 24th - March 1st, 2008
Von Lintel Gallery
555 West 25th Street
New York, NY

Reviews:
Aletti, Vince. 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, Village Voice, February 12th
Hicks, Erin. Camera Obscura, BlackBook, February 21st


Bibliography:
2007 Blind Spot, 36th Edition, Walead Beshty, Marco Breuer, John Chiara, Liz Deschenes, Rob Fischer, Joan Fontcuberta, Michelle Kloehn, Roman Signer
2007 Works on Paper Originally in B&W, ZYZZYVA, Issue 79, the last word: west coast writers & artists, Spring, pp. 133-135
2007 Bennett, Kim. Imperfect Beauty, A Conversation with John Chiara, ARTICLE, art and the imaginative promise, Summer pp. 2-6
2007 Spark, Television Documentary. Inside Crown Point Press
2007 Spicer, Jakki K. On the Wall, East Bay Express, March 21
2007 Harmanci, Reyhan. Special pairings, 'Visual Alchemy' Exhibition brings together diverse artists at different stages, San Francisco Chronicle, February 15
2006 Spark, Television Documentary. Experimenting, KQED, Channel 9, May
2005 Twomey, Chris. The Photograph In Question at Von Lintel Gallery, M: The New York Art World, September Edition.
2005 Bamberger, Alan. Lands End - New Work by John Chiara and Liz Walsh at Adobe Books, ArtBusiness.com, December
2004 Artist Portfolio, Eleven Eleven, Annual Journal of Literature and Art. May


Representation:
Von Lintel Gallery, New York, NY
Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA


Collections:
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