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PHOTOS: STEVE GIOVINCO
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STeVe GIoVInCo – the art of the lens
Much of contemporary photography and video seems haunted by
the past, by the history of art, by apparitions that are endlessly reanimated
in reproductive mediums, live performances and the virtual world.
Steve Giovinco, a fine-art photographer born on August 31, 1961, in Terrytown,
New York, prefers to document the emotional reverberations of
daily life, specifically focusing on lyrical nightscapes and emotional relations
between couples, portraying himself and others in what amount to
diaristic images. Using ambient light, he takes digital photographs intuitively,
without really knowing what the final outcome will be: whether
they will encapsulate a melancholy longing for an irrecoverable past, or
simply turn out to be a momentary snapshot. As I see it, Giovinco’s photographic
imagery tells stories. In the process, it underscores the unique power
of reproductive media and, as such, reflects the extensive degree to which photography has now been incorporated
in contemporary art.
Following his 1989 graduation as a Master of Fine Arts in Photography at Yale University in New Haven, he was
awarded fellowships to attend Yaddo artist residencies in 2001, 2002 and 2010, and to serve as Artist in Residence at the
Bakery, Westbrook, Maine. Giovinco has also won the coveted Photoworks ‘93 Prize and the Image ‘88 First Prize Award
in Guilford, Connecticut.
Museums that have collected Giovinco’s works include the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, The Brooklyn Museum
of Art, Yale University Museum of Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, The California Museum of Photography, Winnipeg
Art Gallery and the Lower Art Museum in Miami, Florida. Solo museum exhibitions to date include the California
Museum of Photography, Fotogalerie Wien in Vienna, the VELAN Center in Torino, Italy, and the University of the Arts in
Philadelphia.
Giovinco is represented by Jim Kempner Fine Art in New York, where numerous exhibitions of his works have been
reviewed and published by Art in America. His works have featured in exhibitions both in Europe and North America.
He has also published three books and had his photographs auctioned at Sotheby’s as well as at several benefit events.
As part of the series «The Mystery of Creativity,» filmmaker David McDonald created a brief video covering Giovinco and
his work. Through his photography, Steve Giovinco has established not only a new mode of visual production, but also a
new conception of artwork as a repository of autobiographical, cultural and historical information. Both his nightscapes
and landscapes appear to be a poetic reflection on the inexorable passing of time, highlighting the importance of remembrance
and the force of the uncanny.
Steve Giovinco lives and works in New York City. The photographs that appear here reveal a profound, poetic and
mysterious soul indeed!