Peter Vanderwarker: Interventions
March 7 – 29 at Gallery NAGA
In his second solo exhibition at Gallery NAGA, photographer Peter Vanderwarker will present new, large, colorful landscapes and cityscapes along side his archival, black and white views of old Boston. Peter Vanderwarker’s photographic practice is broad and deep. He has shot throughout the world for architectural clients, for businesses, and for himself. Gallery NAGA’s focus is on his personal work.
Vanderwarker has been photographing Boston since the late 1970’s. A portion of the exhibition at NAGA will include a series of black and white photographs of Lost Boston, a term Vanderwarker uses to describe the spaces and structures that no longer exist, such as the Boston Garden or the Charles Street Jail. Vanderwarker explains, “All cities grow and change – beautiful things are lost all the time. The essential paradox is that by freezing a place in time, you risk killing it.” In contrast to the power of the color photographs, the Boston photos are small, delicate and tonally stunning.
Vanderwarker spent the last two years traveling and looking closely at the natural world. The landscapes and structures that resonated most strongly were ones that resemble the architectural forms he knows so well: an aerial shot of a bridge cutting through open water like a line bisecting a massive form, a frontal view of a New York brownstone seen through a window in the shape of a sideways trapezoid, and a line of trees standing erect like structural supports of a building.
Peter Vanderwarker was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University in 1997 and earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Graham Foundation and is the author of three books about architecture in Boston. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, and the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, MA. Peter is currently part of an exhibition at the Addison Gallery, entitled Industrial Strength: Selections from the Collection, which will be on view through April 13.
Peter Vanderwarker: Interventions runs from March 7 – 29. A reception for the artist and the public will be held at the gallery on Friday, March 7 from 6 to 8 pm. The artist will speak about his work on Saturday, March 15 at 2 pm.