roberto Huarcaya | OCÉANOS
May 17th, 2022 - September 12th, 2022 | Press release
Open Monday - Friday , 2 - 6pm | Viewings By Appointment Only
A limited number of copies of the artist’s latest monograph composed of 16 photograms reproduced and bound into a continuous image are available. For more information or to purchase, please click here.
Penumbra Foundation is pleased to invite you to the opening of Océanos, an exhibition of large-scale photograms of the Pacific Ocean by Peruvian artist Roberto Huarcaya.
In 2014, Huarcaya was commissioned by a non-profit organization dedicated to conserving the world's largest wild places, to visit and photograph the southeast part of the Amazon forest. After two years of trips to the area (and several failed attempts to capture its complexity), Huarcaya realized that there was no camera or lens capable of recording the brutal and immeasurable experience of the jungle. At that point he decided to eliminate the intermediary tools and started to work directly on light-sensitive papers. Since then, the artist has adopted this process to produce artworks that examine Peruvian territory and culture from the Amazonian border in the east to the Pacific shore in the west.
In what could be described as a "photogrammatic performance,” Huarcaya, together with a group of colleagues and friends, entered the waters of the sea to record its virulent nature and traces of contamination. Working with color and black and white silver halide papers, the resulting images grapple with the possibilities of documentation, representation and abstraction, while inviting the viewer to look and reflect on the tensions between the depicted matter and the created photograph.
Accompanying the photograms of the ocean are three of the six panels that make up Huarcaya’s work Andean Musicians (2018), along with three reproductions from his series Amazogramas (2014), at a scale of 1:15 (the original works are 90ft). The limited-edition prints from Amazogramas are part of a publication made by the artist in 2016.
OCÉANOS is the first-ever exhibition of these photograms. It will be on view at Penumbra Foundation from May 17th to August 24, 2022.
About the artist
Roberto Huarcaya (Lima, Peru | b.1959) graduated in Psychology from the Universidad Católica del Perú, and studied Cinema and Photography at the Instituto Italiano de Cultura and Photography at the Centro del Video y la Imagen (Madrid, 1989).
He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the US, Europe, Central and South America, and Asia, including the 6th Havana Biennial 1997; Lima Biennial 1997, 1998 and 2000; Primavera Fotográfica of Cataluña 1998; PhotoEspaña 1999; the 49th Venice Bienniale, 2001; 2014 Daegu Photo Biennial; Polyptychs, CoCA Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, 2007; Dialogues, MOLAA, Museum of Latin American Art, California, 2009; Mois de la Photo 2010, Paris; Biennial de Daugu 2014, Corea; Valongo festival 2016, Brazil. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the first prize in the Contest Imagen del Perú, organized by Unión Latina in 1991; the third prize in the Amor y Muerte Contest, organized by the Latinamerican Center of Munich, Germany in 1997; and was an artist in residence in the Cité Internationale des Arts in París, France in 1997 and 1998. In 2010, he won the Petrobras Award in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the 2016 Venice Biennale, he won the secondary prize for national pavilions with the architecture curatorial team. He is an internationally invited lecturer, professor and portfolio reviewer. He serves as co-editor of CDI, Centro de la Imagen magazine, and Sueño de la Razón Latin American photography magazine. He was co-director of Lima Photo Art Fair, 2010 – 2017; and Photography Biennial of Lima, 2012 – 2014. He was a lecturer of Photography at the Universidad de Lima (1990-1993), at the Gaudi Institute (Lima, 1993-1997), and at the Centro de la Fotografía, now Centro de la Imagen (Lima, since 1999) of which he is founder and director. His work is part of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, the Fine Arts Museum of Houston, the MOLAA Museum of Latin American Art in California, the CoCA Center on Contemporary Art in Seattle, the Lehigh University Art Collection, the Art Museum of Lima, from the San Marcos Museum in Lima, the América Foundation in Santiago de Chile, the Wilfredo Lam Contemporary Art Center in Havana, and the Hochschild and Mulder Private Collection, among others.
About Penumbra’s Exhibition Space
Penumbra’s Exhibition Space is a new gallery dedicated to presenting work that advances historic and alternative photographic processes in ways that are as conceptually and socially relevant as they are materially driven. The goal of this space is to foster conversations about the role of photography in contemporary society through curated exhibitions and collaborations.
Penumbra’s exhibitions are supported in part by the Joy of Giving Something.
About Penumbra Foundation
Penumbra Foundation is a non-profit organization that brings together the Art and Science of Photography through education, research, outreach, public and residency programs. Its goal is to be a comprehensive resource for photographers at any level, artists, students, professionals, historians, researchers, conservators and curators. Penumbra specializes in advancing the use of historic and alternative photographic technologies for contemporary image-making.
Kindly review and follow NY State COVID policies
All visitors age 12 and up are required to be fully vaccinated.
All visitors age 2 and up are required to be masked for the duration of their visit.
Upon making your appointment or reservation, please send proof of COVID vaccination for all visitors included in your reservation to: lisa@penumbrafoundation.org
Accepted proof of vaccination: a photograph of your vaccination card or screen capture of your Excelsior Pass.
Your last vaccination date must be within 6 months of your exhibition appointment.
Those who fail to present proof of vaccination in advance of their visit will not be permitted to enter.
Thank you for your understanding and for keeping Penumbra Foundation safe for all visitors and staff. Please email lisa@penumbrafoundation.org with any questions or concerns.