Peter Kayafas Explained

Peter Kayafas (born 1971) is an American photographer, publisher, and educator based in New York City. He creates black and white photographs that are "simple and spare, yet quietly overpowering with their evocation of a history on a scale beyond that of individual human lives."[1] Kayafas is the Director of the Eakins Press Foundation and is a Guggenheim Fellow in photography.[2] He is Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation of Yaddo and was an adjunct associate professor of photography at Pratt Institute for 21 years.[3] [4] [5] Kayafas' photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the New York Public Library, New Orleans Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the RISD Museum, and SFMOMA, and there are five monographs of his photographs in print.

Life and work

Early work

Kayafas was born in Boston in 1971 and raised in Concord, Massachusetts.[6] His father, Gus Kayafas, founded the undergraduate photography program at Massachusetts College of Art, and his mother Arlette Kayafas, is the founder and owner of Gallery Kayafas in Boston.[7] He moved to New York City in 1989 to study photography at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, from which he received a BFA in 1993.[8] [9] During his college years, he worked as a printer for Rosalind Fox Solomon and Sylvia Plachy, and studied with Nan Goldin, Anthony Barboza, and A. D. Coleman.[10] Kayafas spent the summer and fall of 1991 in San Francisco where he did an independent study with Henry Wessel, Jr. at the San Francisco Art Institute, and worked for Andy Grundberg at the Friends of Photography.[11] In 1990, he met and began working for Leslie George Katz, founder and publisher of the Eakins Press. In 1993, Katz appointed Kayafas the Director of the press, a position he has continued for three decades.[12]

Professional life

Kayafas' photographs have been published in five monographs: Peter Kayafas: Coney Island Waterdance (2021), Peter Kayafas: The Way West (2020), Totems (2012), O Public Road! Photographs of America (2009), and The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta (2007).[13] His photographs have also been published in various magazines and journals—including DoubleTake Magazine and The Southern Review—as well as in photography books, including (2001 and 2017), and The Spirit of Family by Al Gore and Tipper Gore (2002). Kayafas has had numerous solo exhibitions in New York City and Boston. In 2018 he became Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Corporation of Yaddo.[14] In 2019, Kayafas was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for photography.[15] As a publisher and editor running the Eakins Press Foundation for three decades, Kayafas has produced books by photographers. He has been teaching photography at Pratt Institute since 2000, and has been represented by Sasha Wolf Projects since 2003.[16]

Coney Island Waterdance

Coney Island Waterdance is a collection of photographs by Kayafas taken between the years of 1991 and 2002, which depicts swimmers in the summertime as well as the Polar Bear Club in the winter.[17] [18] A book featuring this work was published in 2021 by Purple Martin.

Cuba

Kayafas travelled to Cuba in 2000 and 2001. The New Yorker called his Cuba photographs "crisp and direct, and the best of them vibrate with understated graphic tension." Kayafas' pictures from Cuba were exhibited in Two Views of Cuba with photographer Lou Jones, at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts in 2002.

Romania

Romania is a collection of photographs that was made during several trips to Romania by Kayafas from 2003 to 2005. The collection was created by driving more than 10,000 kilometers and photographing the Romanian countryside and many Romanian cities. These photographs were exhibited at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City (2005) and the Romanian Embassy in Washington, DC (2006).[19]

The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta

Designed by the Dutch designer Tessa van der Waals and produced in Holland in 2007, The Merry Cemetery of Sapanta is a book about the carved graves in the remote Merry Cemetery. There are photographs of the colorful tombstones and their respective epitaphs, with translations by Adrian Sahlean. The book also includes an essay by the Romanian scholar Sanda Golopentia. These photographs were exhibited at the Romanian Cultural Institute in New York City (2005) and the Romanian Embassy in Washington, DC (2006).

People In New York

Published in coordination with the Sasha Wolf Gallery in 2004, People In New York is an exhibition catalogue that includes a selection of 13 photographs by Kayafas of people on the streets and in the parks of New York City. The book includes a short essay on that common occurrence in the city: the familiar glance from a stranger.[20]

O Public Road!

O Public Road! Photographs of America is a 2009 book of photographs published by Purple Martin. It features 160 pages of black and white photographs of landscapes, road signs, and people made by Kayafas during two decades of road trips across America. The book includes an essay by Allan Gurganus and a song by Eef Barzelay.[21] [22]

Totems

Totems is an exhibition and publication project by Kayafas that consists of photographs of abandoned buildings in the west that The New Yorker said "have both sculptural presence and a symbolic weight." The book Totems is a 2012 monograph by Kayafas, with an essay by art critic, Jed Perl. Of the Totems photographs, Perl writes: "Kayafas's explorations of an endangered vernacular architecture are at once straightforward records and unabashedly poetic meditations, a matter of the photographer testing the quality of his attentiveness against the facts on the ground. The lyric impulse is sharpened by the documentary convention."[23] [24]

Mexico City

Mexico City is a collection of photographs that were made by Kayafas between 2012 and 2016. Since more than half of Mexico City's 21 million people are under twenty-five, Kayafas chose to focus on various rituals of the youth sub-culture that are prevalent in many parts of the city.[25]

The Way West

The Way West is a photographic project by Kayafas that includes exhibitions and a monograph. The book, Peter Kayafas: The Way West, is the third monograph of Kayafas' work photographing along the roads of the United States, released in 2020. It includes an essay by writer Rick Bass, as well as images from ten years and thousands of miles of travel in the Plains States of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado. According to a review of the book in Hyperallergic from April 14, 2020: "Kayafas has come back with what surely constitutes one of the most exhaustive, vivid photographic studies of a region to be produced anywhere in recent decades."[26] [27] [28] [29] [30]

Publications

Books

Other publications

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Collections

Kayafas' work is held in the following public collections:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Feeney . Mark . Spare scenes at Kayafas exhibit . The Boston Globe . 13 June 2020.
  2. Web site: Peter Kayafas . John Simon Guggenheim Foundation . 13 June 2020.
  3. Web site: Guggenheim Fellowship Awarded to Photography Faculty Member Peter Kayafas . Pratt Institute . 12 June 2020.
  4. Web site: Yaddo board names new co-chairs . Times Union . 13 June 2020.
  5. Interview with Peter Kayafas. 2022-02-03. Musée Magazine. en-US.
  6. Web site: Peter Kayafas Biography . artnet . 13 June 2020.
  7. Web site: Curator's Viewpoint: Arlette Kayafas . What Will You Remember . 13 June 2020.
  8. Web site: Hyperallergic reviews 'The Way West' by DPI Alum Peter Kayafas . Tisch School of the Arts . 11 June 2020.
  9. Web site: Peter Kayafas: Artist Profile . The Art of Creative Photography . 13 June 2020.
  10. Web site: Photography . Pratt Institute . 10 June 2020.
  11. Web site: Artist Biographies . Sasha Wolf Gallery . 10 June 2020.
  12. Web site: History of the Press . Eakins Press Foundation . 13 June 2020.
  13. Web site: Peter Kayafas . Pratt Institute . 10 June 2020.
  14. Web site: Yaddo board names new co-chairs . Houston Chronicle . 13 June 2020.
  15. Web site: Risch . Conor . 2019 Guggenheim Fellowships Awarded to 12 Photographers . PDNPulse . 13 June 2020.
  16. Web site: Bray . Matthew . Photography - Peter Kayafas . Pratt Institute . 13 June 2020.
  17. Web site: Borst . Sarah . Peter Kayafas . AINT-BAD . 5 June 2020.
  18. Photographs . The Southern Review . Spring 2012 . 266 . 13 June 2020.
  19. Web site: Peter Kayafas – Romania . oitzarisme . 13 June 2020.
  20. Web site: People In New York . Purple Martin Press . 10 June 2020.
  21. Web site: Search Results Web results Showcase: On, and Off, the Road . The New York Times . 4 July 2009 . 1 June 2020.
  22. Web site: From The Desk Of Clem Snide's Eef Barzelay: Peter Kayafas' "O Public Road!" Photo Book . . 13 June 2020.
  23. Peter Kayafas . The New Yorker . 13 June 2020.
  24. Web site: Feeney . Mark . Spare scenes at Kayafas exhibit . The Boston Globe . 13 June 2020.
  25. News: Mexico's urban youth culture explosion . BBC News . 13 June 2020.
  26. Web site: Gómez . Edward . A Photographer's Travels Across the Real American West . Hyperallergic . 11 April 2020 . 13 June 2020.
  27. News: Myths and magic: the new American west – in pictures . The Guardian. April 2020 .
  28. Web site: The Critic's Notebook . . 13 June 2020.
  29. Web site: Gómez . Edward . The Way West: Photographs by Peter Kayafas from America's Open Road . Hyperallergic . 24 May 2014 . 13 June 2020.
  30. Web site: Everich . Amanda . Peter Kayafas 'The Way West' at Sasha Wolf Gallery . Musée Magazine . 13 June 2020.
  31. Web site: Search Results Web results Showcase: On, and Off, the Road . The New York Times . 4 July 2009 . 13 June 2020.
  32. Web site: Gómez . Edward . A Photographer's Travels Across the Real American West . Hyperallergic . 11 April 2020 . 13 June 2020.
  33. News: Myths and magic: the new American west – in pictures . The Guardian . April 2020 . 9 June 2020.
  34. Web site: The Critic's Notebook . . 11 June 2020.
  35. Web site: "The Way West" by Photographer Peter Kayafas. 2022-02-03. BOOOOOOOM!. en-US.
  36. Web site: The Spirit of Family . Publishers Weekly . 13 June 2020.
  37. Web site: Lincoln Kirstein: A Bibliography of Published Writings . Eakins . 13 June 2020.
  38. Perl . Jed . The Modern High-Wire . The New Republic . 18 June 2010 . 13 June 2020.
  39. Web site: Discovering the Soul of the Ringlings' Circus . The New York Times . 5 April 2010 . 11 June 2020.
  40. Web site: Sante . Luc . Circus: The Photographs of Frederick W. Glasier . Design Observer . 8 June 2020.
  41. Web site: Bicker . Phil . The Americans List: A Salute to Robert Frank . TIME Magazine . 13 June 2020.
  42. Web site: Roma . Giancarlo . Photographer Lee Friedlander's Monumental Legacy in Books . VICE . 13 June 2020.
  43. Web site: Five decades of Lee Friedlander's . Brooklyn Daily Eagle . 24 April 2014 . 13 June 2020.
  44. News: Search Results Web results Photography: Carl Van Vechten, Cecil Beaton and More . The New York Times . December 2015 . 13 June 2020. Sante . Luc .
  45. Web site: Meyers . William . The Best Books for Photography Lovers . The Wall Street Journal . 13 June 2020.
  46. Web site: Aletti . Vince . July - August 2015 . Photograph Magazine . 2 June 2020.
  47. Web site: Pinckney . Darryl . Looking Harlem in the Eye . The New York Review of Books . 9 June 2020.
  48. Web site: Ecos. Peter Kayafas . Foro R-38 . 12 June 2020.
  49. Web site: Gómez . Edward . In New Photo Books, a Strong Sense of Place . Hyperallergic . 18 November 2017 . 6 June 2020.
  50. Web site: Baker . Tora . Bystander: A history of street photography by Joel Meyerowitz and Colin Westerbeck . Creative Boom . 16 October 2017 . 13 June 2020.
  51. Web site: Gadgil . Salonee . Bystander: the history of street photography revisited . Creative Review . 25 October 2017 . 13 June 2020.
  52. Web site: Stephen Shore: Elements . Eakins. 5 June 2020.
  53. Web site: Pesantes . Emilia . Book Review: Photowork . Search Results Web Result with Site Links Musée Magazine . 13 June 2020.
  54. Web site: Meyers . William . American Aesthetic, by Default . The New York Sun . 13 June 2020.
  55. Peter Kayafas . The New Yorker . 13 June 2020.
  56. Web site: Feeney . Mark . Spare scenes at Kayafas exhibit . The Boston Globe . 13 June 2020.
  57. Web site: Gómez . Edward . The Way West: Photographs by Peter Kayafas from America's Open Road . Hyperallergic . 24 May 2014 . 13 June 2020.
  58. Web site: Barnas . Ed . On The Road, Again . The New York Photo Review . 2 June 2020.
  59. Web site: El Claustro de Sor Juana expone a Peter Kayfas . Noticias 22 Digital . 2 April 2016 . 13 June 2020.
  60. Web site: Vinós . Gabrielle . Peter Kayafas: Nada que ver con la nostalgia . Revista Código . 13 June 2020.
  61. Web site: El Claustro de Sor Juana expone a Peter Kayfas . La Gazzetta DF . 2 April 2016 . 13 June 2020.
  62. Flipbook . The New Yorker . 12 Dec 2001 . 28 . 13 June 2020.
  63. Web site: Photography: The Sidewalk Never Ends . Art Institute of Chicago . 13 June 2020.
  64. Web site: Stein . Lisa . Photo show puts the streets back in focus . Chicago Tribune . 13 June 2020.
  65. Web site: The Sidewalk Never Ends: Street Photography Since the 1970's . AbsoluteArts . Art Institute of Chicago . 13 June 2020.
  66. Flipbook . The New Yorker . 2 May 2005 . 26 . 13 June 2020.
  67. Web site: Meyers . William . Dream Weavers Captured in Print . The New York Sun . 13 June 2020.
  68. Web site: Roalf . Peggy . In Our Dreams at Sasha Wolf . American Illustration - American Photography . 13 June 2020.
  69. Web site: Where To Go and What To See . Popular Photography . 13 June 2020.
  70. Web site: Signs: Wordplay in Photography . de Young Museum . 13 June 2020.
  71. Web site: Beardshear . Kristi . Talk to Me . ArtSlant . 13 June 2020.
  72. Web site: Residents and Visitors: 20th-Century Photographs of Louisiana . New Orleans Museum of Art . 13 June 2020.
  73. Web site: O'Neill . Claire . Cheers To That! A Photo Exhibit All About Drinking . WNYC . New York Public Radio . 13 June 2020.
  74. Web site: The Art of Drinking . PDN Online . 18 July 2013 . 13 June 2020.
  75. Web site: Meyers . William . Photography Exhibitions: Tintypes, Shakespeare and Belgian Strangers . The Wall Street Journal . 13 June 2020.
  76. Web site: The Collected Image: Photography Portfolios . Fitchburg Art Museum . 13 June 2020.
  77. Web site: Unlimited: Recent Gifts from the William Goodman and Victoria Belco Photography Collection . UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive . 13 June 2020.
  78. Web site: Dallas, Texas . The Art Institute of Chicago . 1990 . 13 June 2020.
  79. Web site: China Town, New York City . Brooklyn Museum . 13 June 2020.
  80. Web site: Artist: Peter Kayafas . Joy of Giving Something, Inc. . 1 June 2020.
  81. Web site: Peter G. Kayafas . Museum of Modern Art . 13 June 2020.
  82. Web site: Peter Kayafas . The New York Public Library . 13 June 2020.

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