JOHN CHIARA | Fort at Lime Point - Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov 17 6 — 8 PM;

John Chiara
Oak at 4th, Federal Building, 2011
image on Endura transparency, unique photograph
33 x 28 inches

JOHN CHIARA | Fort at Lime Point
November 17 — January 7

Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov 17 6 — 8 PM

Von Lintel Gallery is pleased to present Fort at Lime Point—new work by San Francisco-based photographer John Chiara.

John Chiara's process of making images is physical, unmediated and intuitive. He uses super-sized custom cameras that hold only photographic paper (no film) onto which his imagery is directly recorded, inviting aberrations and anomalies of process along the way. This time-intensive method allows him to slow down in our point-and-click era to shed light on the non-descript, in-between spaces of our landscape. Chiara transforms these ephemeral moments into hazy portals where past and present seem to overlap.

Chiara's exhibition at Von Lintel Gallery offers a bi-optic way of looking. Photographs of fortress landscapes, site-line overlooks and monuments of abstract expressionism are installed as diptychs and stereographic images. With his starkly surreal, imperfectly rendered and otherworldly landscapes, Chiara's work suggests an entirely different way of regarding photographic imagery. The artist's one-of-a-kind photographs are characterized by what would typically be considered photographic glitches. But these "imperfections" actually occur through deliberate strategies of chance and Chiara's respectful subversion of traditional techniques. The result offers a fresh perspective.

John Chiara's work has been reviewed in numerous publications including the Washington Post, the New Yorker and Artforum. In 2011, the Pilara Foundation commissioned John Chiara's Bridge Project for their permanent collection. It is currently on view as part of Here at Pier 24 Photography, home of the Pilara Foundation in San Francisco. This will be Chiara's second solo exhibition with Von Lintel Gallery.

VON LINTEL GALLERY