John Woodruff

I have a minor in photography (the Hartford Art School) and a B.S. in Biology. As a consequence, my work almost always combines science and art.

My newest work shares the same things I have explored and/or worked with for years - patterns which occur at every level of life, and the beauty of amorphous cellular shapes. I find them inspirational.

I also take a lot of cues from nature, but you won't find what I do in nature - just references to it.

Because my work is so detailed and everything is done by hand, all of my photographs are created in the studio. It gives me the chance to cut and arrange my shapes and light the composition to enhance color/mood and create an illusion of depth.

As lush "patterned landscapes" that mimic what you might see when you look out of a plane at thirty thousand feet, they give to the viewer colorful, engaging and visually charged images that exist at the intersection of painting and photography, imagery and abstraction.

My art is about color and composition but, inevitably is also about the medium itself.

Influences: The natural world, background music in movies, Jefferson Airplane light show in the seventies, Gary Stephan, David Reed, Ross Bleckner, Jack Goldstein, and Adam Fuss - in that order.

BACKGROUND

Born 1954 West Hartford, CT
Received B.S. Biology and minor in photography from University of Hartford
Worked as studio photographer from 1980 - 1985, shooting catalogs, advertising imagery, and annual reports - all film-based using 4x5 and 8x10 view cameras
in 1985, founded an Architectural Photography studio focused on shooting architecture for architects and builders - film-based, 4x5 view camera - transitioned in 2010 to digital capture
From 1980 to present, I concurrently produced lens-based art participating in individual and group shows from Hartford to NYC

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS