"Memory is something you can never see perfectly clearly. You get different parts very sharply, but you never can see the full picture all the time. Also, I think memory has divergent edges and is sort of unbound in a sense. I hope that the work touches on memory in that sense—not necessarily nostalgia or a longing for the past—but more something that’s tied to reconciliation.” - John Chiara

ROSEGALLERY is pleased to exhibit Starr King / Lands End, a presentation of John Chiara’s most recent works taken in his home city of San Francisco.

Chiara’s one-of-a-kind works are primarily focused on two locations: Starr King, a 3.5 acre of natural space nestled on the southern side of Potrero Hill, and Lands End, a natural recreation area on the northwestern corner of the city that overlooks the Pacific Ocean. These spaces are compressed and transformed into complex compositions that abstract the familiar forms of the forest.

Described by Chiara as ‘mindscapes’, these works explore a temporal space at the intersection of the mental and physical. Atmospheric colors ebb and flow with the silhouettes of trees and branches that mingle and embrace one another. Slowly, layer by layer, elements reveal themselves as more than representational in their complexity. Chiara notes, “As time goes on and life continues, the origin of the memory fades, but the visual imprint remains.” Chiara is an artist that pushes the technical limitations of photography. These photographs are created within his signature homemade, large format camera.

Each work contain three images. The first exposure is shot, then Chiara meditates on the image and carefully selects a second location. The artist then turns the photographic paper around and exposes it to sunlight, allowing the unfiltered light to directly hit the back of the emulsion, creating a golden hue over some of the images and the silhouette in all. Each unique work feels three dimensional.

Starr King / Lands End will be on view from 16 April 2022 until 4 June 2022.

Works by Chiara are in numerous private and public collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY; Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA; and the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, TX. His first monograph, John Chiara: California, was published by Aperture and Pier 24 Photography in 2017.

For sales inquiries, please contact Jaushua jaushua@rosegallery.net. or B brittany@rosegallery.net