Peter Vanderwarker
Although he’s known primarily as a photographer of architecture, Vanderwarker is equally at home photographing the natural world. In Sublimation, his 2017 solo show at Gallery NAGA, Vanderwarker explored the continuous transformation of water from solid to liquid to gas in a series of stunning color photographs he captured while visiting Yellowstone National Park.
Peter Vanderwarker both searches for and captures a sense of unsteadiness within the distinctly different worlds of built environments and the natural landscape. Interventions, Vanderwarker’s 2014 solo show at Gallery NAGA, contained a series of black and white photographs of “Lost Boston”; a term he has given to the spaces and structures that no longer exist. He 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."
Vanderwarker’s color photographs are a study of incongruity, the familiar becoming surprising. A mirage-like city scapes shimmers in the windows of a towering skyscraper in Hancock #4288. Abstract and textured, a thicket of trees create remarkable depth within their 2D rendering in Twisp, WA.
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 photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Addison Gallery of American Art. In 2009 the Boston Athenaeum presented Vanderwarker's Pantheon: Minds and Matter in Boston, an exhibition of portraits of iconic buildings and pivotal people.
Rockweed, Deer Isle, 2022, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 40x30" / 50x37.5"> Inquire Pamet River, Massachusetts, 2022, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 30x40" / 37.5x50"> Inquire Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 2022, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 22x40" / 30x54.5"> Inquire Crawford Notch, New Hampshire, 2015, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 30x40" / 37.5x50"> Inquire Silver City, New Mexico, 2020, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 30x40" / 37.5x50"> Inquire Kaaterskill Falls, New York, 2022, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 40x30" / 50x37.5"> Inquire Goblin Valley, Utah, 2018, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 24x50" / 30x62.5"> Inquire Parker River Refuge, Massachusetts, 2022, archival inkjet print (edition of 10), 30x40" / 37.5x50"> Inquire Akranes Iceland, 2020, type C print (edition of 10), 27x40"> Inquire Iceland Headlands, March, 2020, type C print (edition of 10), 27x40"> Inquire Subway New York City, 2019, type C print (edition of 10), 28x40"> Inquire Bryce Canyon Utah 3722, 2019, type C print (edition of 10), 40x28"> Inquire Capitol Reef Utah, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 26x40"> Inquire Devil's Garden Utah 3555, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 27x40"> Inquire Zion National Park Utah 3776, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 40x30"> Inquire Near Boulder Utah, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 25x40"> Inquire Mt. Ellen Utah 2789, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 28x40"> Inquire Mt. Ellen Utah 2809, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Devil's Garden Utah 3578, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 27x40"> Inquire Devil's Garden Utah 3557, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 40x30"> Inquire Slot Canyon Utah 2868, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 27x40"> Inquire Bryce Canyon Utah 3700, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 27x40"> Inquire Zion National Park Utah 3858, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 40x27"> Inquire Slot Canyon Utah 2912, 2018, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Bison Crossing Firehole River, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 40x50"> Inquire Icy Morning Air, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30×40"> Inquire Snow near Lone Star Geyser, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Ice Crystals near Lone Star, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire My Tiny Volcano near Norris Basin, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Near Artemisia Geyser, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Mud Pool near Norris Basin, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Morning Glory Pool, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Firehole River near Lone Star, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 40x50"> Inquire Castle Geyser Detail, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Burnt Trees from 1988, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Castle Geyser from Old Faithful, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Bacteria Mats Detail, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 27x40"> Inquire Firehole River Detail, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 24x40"> Inquire Thermal Pool and Bacteria, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 40x50"> Inquire Biscuit Basin Pool, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire American Beauty, 2017, archival inkjet print, stained clear fir, steel, sterling silver, Buffalo nickels, 27x23"> Inquire American Beauty (detail), 2017, archival inkjet print, stained clear fir, steel, sterling silver, Buffalo nickels, 27x23"> Inquire American Beauty (detail), 2017, archival inkjet print, stained clear fir, steel, sterling silver, Buffalo nickels, 27x23"> Inquire Thermal Pool, Biscuit Basin, 2017, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Back Bay Boston, 2015, type C print (edition of 10), 40x26.5"> Inquire San Francisco, 2014, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Cribstone Bridge, Orr's Island, Maine, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Hancock #3888, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Penland, North Carolina, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 40x30"> Inquire Hancock #4288, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 40x30"> Inquire Summer Street, Boston, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Casco Bay, Maine, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Twisp, WA, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Pemaquid Point, Maine, October #1886, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 40x50"> Inquire Pemaquid Point, Maine, April 4076, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 40x50"> Inquire Gulf of Maine, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Robert Motherwell's Floor #1551, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Robert Motherwell's Floor 0129, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Large Panoramic of Motherwell's Floor, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 24x65"> Inquire Penland Spring, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Arboretum November, 2013, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Great Meadows June, 2013, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 40x50"> Inquire Headlights at Dusk, Borrego Springs, 2013, type C print (Edition of 10), 22.5x30"> Inquire Central Artery, 1989, 2013, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 17x13"> Inquire Whitney Museum, New York, 2013, type C print (edition of 10), 40x26"> Inquire Hyatt Atrium, Houston, 2012, type C print (edition of 10), 40x30"> Inquire Spring Island, South Carolina, 2012, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire West Chop Martha's Vineyard, 2010, type C print (edition of 10), 26x40"> Inquire South End Boston, 2007, type C print (edition of 10), 40x27"> Inquire Near Marfa, Texas, 2006, type C print (edition of 10), 33.75x49.75"> Inquire Hancock #7902, 2006, type C print (edition of 10), 40x30"> Inquire Hancock 5107, 2006, type C print (editon of 10), 30x40"> Inquire Central Artery, 2004, 2004, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 13x17"> Inquire Province Street, 2001, 2001, type C print (edition of 10), 17x13"> Inquire Charles Street Jail, 2001, archival inkjet print (edition of 25), 22x28"> Inquire Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2001, 2001, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 13x17"> Inquire McGlathery Island, Penobscot Bay, 1997, type C print (edition of 10), 30x40"> Inquire St. Sulpice, Paris, 1990, type C print (edition of 10), 40x26"> Inquire Old Colony Railroad Bridge, 1998, 1998, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 17x13"> Inquire Central Artery, 1989 (2), 1989, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 17x13"> Inquire Boston Garden, 1989, 1989, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 13x17"> Inquire View from the Ames Building, 1987, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 13x17"> Inquire Boston Marathon, 1983, 1983, archival inkjet print (edition of 25), 13x17"> Inquire Tent City, 1977, archival pigment print (edition of 25), 17x13"> Inquire John Hancock, 1974, 1974, archival pigment print (edition of 10), 17x13"> Inquire
Peter Vanderwarker
Although he’s known primarily as a photographer of architecture, Vanderwarker is equally at home photographing the natural world. In Sublimation, his 2017 solo show at Gallery NAGA, Vanderwarker explored the continuous transformation of water from solid to liquid to gas in a series of stunning color photographs he captured while visiting Yellowstone National Park.
Peter Vanderwarker both searches for and captures a sense of unsteadiness within the distinctly different worlds of built environments and the natural landscape. Interventions, Vanderwarker’s 2014 solo show at Gallery NAGA, contained a series of black and white photographs of “Lost Boston”; a term he has given to the spaces and structures that no longer exist. He 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."
Vanderwarker’s color photographs are a study of incongruity, the familiar becoming surprising. A mirage-like city scapes shimmers in the windows of a towering skyscraper in Hancock #4288. Abstract and textured, a thicket of trees create remarkable depth within their 2D rendering in Twisp, WA.
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 photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Addison Gallery of American Art. In 2009 the Boston Athenaeum presented Vanderwarker's Pantheon: Minds and Matter in Boston, an exhibition of portraits of iconic buildings and pivotal people.