Nando Alvarez-Perez
Still Life/Nature Morte
September 24 – October 22, 2016
Opening Reception: September 24, 2016 2-5pm
In Still Life/Nature Morte the unusual dichotomy between the English and French phrases acts as the launching point for considering the death of nature and its subsequent resurrection in a series of cultural artifacts. Presented as a group of traditionally framed photographs, photo constructs, industrially produced housewares, and ready made sculptures, in Still Life/Nature Morte the natural world itself is the stockpile of stockpiles, the raw material for generating cultural objects. Flora, fauna, stone, wood, and other natural materials, repurposed for human consumption via the act of representation, become the cultural accoutrement for living. Together the work asks the questions: if nature is suitably translated by and for culture, in what form can it survive and at what cost?
From 2008-2011 Nando Alvarez-Perez studied the history of cinema at Hunter College in Manhattan where he graduated summa cum laude and received his BA in Film Studies and Special Honors from the Thomas Hunter Honors Program. In 2012 he spent two months in Santiago, Chile which resulted in his first self-published photobook, Piss/Cola/California. In 2014 he graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute where he was awarded the Master of Fine Arts Fellowship in Photography. He finished his second book, Lacuna, while in attendance there. His work has been shown throughout the West Coast at the New Space Center for Photography in Portland, OR, the LA Center for Digital Art, and across the Bay Area. His work was featured in the group exhibition Salón Boricua as part of the 4th Poly/Graphic Triennial in San Juan, PR and in a solo exhibition at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, NY at the beginning of 2016. Most recently his work was exhibited in a two person show in Zurich, CH with artist Marcel Freymond and he published his third book, Alpine Shadow Black Madonna in August 2016.
