| About Peter Neumann |
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My path to photography wasn’t a straight line...literature major at Northeastern University in Boston, several years playing and composing on guitar, an 8 year inner odyssey with a spiritual teacher, heavily laced with distance biking, running and swimming and releasing more endorphins than I care to think about. One highpoint from that time was a 50 day, 9000mile running relay across the United States. Somewhere in the middle of all this I remembered that my Prussian father, a serious painter in his own right, who worked in oils, really wanted me to be an artist. We went to museums, we talked about art, but I never could get myself to sit down and draw. We did take photographs together, however, with a 6x9 Makina Plaubel camera. And there were the evenings of slide shows… My father gave me a Rolleiflex when I was in college, but I did nothing serious with it. It was only after it was stolen and a photographer friend advised me what to buy, that I suddenly found myself becoming very interested in photography, enough to convert my bathtub into a part time darkroom. After a brief stint in photojournalism, I bought a 4x5 special Deardorf, packed my gear and took off across the country, through the Rockies, Wyoming,Utah and Colorado. Of course, I needed to survive, but this time with a creative direction. In 1982 I left a job at the UN and opened my studio in the Photo District of New York. I became a still life photographer and shot tabletop vignettes of products, with demanding attention to the most minute details, a world in miniature, dramatically contrasting with the monumental scenery of the West. I photographed for ad agencies, corporations and magazines, and kept taking my landscapes. In 1994 three of my Dune photographs were added to the collection of the Brooklyn Museum. In the early 1990’s I found myself drawn to computer graphics. I immersed myself in Photoshop classes at The School of Visual Arts and was inexorably drawn to 3D programs, the electronic equivalent of the still life lighting and discipline of the film medium, without the chemicals, the lab drop offs, and with thousands of new exciting possibilities. Eight magazines featured this work and in 2001 my 3D illustration: “Absolute Hangover” was in the Brooklyn Museum show: “Digital: Printmaking Now”. Looking back on my work I find that the constants are a love of detail, a strong desire to master my craft and a visceral response to surface texture and subtlety revealed by light and shadow. I have arranged my website into several galleries, reflecting my life journeys: Landscape Photography: Color along with black and white images, primarily studies of rocks, trees, New York and dunes in the Rockies, culled from my extensive portfolio. 3D Digital Illustrations: This medium has taken me closest to combining technique with concept. The images or illustrations are my interpretations of editorial assignments and whimsical ideas. Still Life Photography: Although this medium was my livelihood, I have filled this gallery with experimental work reflecting my efforts to develop a personal style. Abstracts: I modified color images and converted black and white photographs to color and then "abstracted" them. This allowed me to push the envelope of color and form into new realms. After years of adhering to strict disciplines this is the freest, most playful work I’ve done yet. Exhibits and More… 2004 Lee Weber Fine Art (with Garry Winogrand & Leon Levinstein) 2003 Patagonia (store) 2002 NYU Small Works Show (3D illustrations) 2001 Brooklyn Museum “Digital: Printmaking Now”(3D illustration) 1999 Landscapes in Pfizer collection 1998 Landscapes in Bloomingdales’ collection 1997 ILGA “First” Award - Jif Peanut Advertisement 1996 Prince Street Bar & Restaurant 1994 Landscapes in Brooklyn Museum collection 1994 Wears For Art Gallery 1991 Tai Gallery 1990 Pelham Art Centre (with John Gruen) 1990 Dimensional Illustrators Merit Award 1990 Ledel Gallery 1988 Clio finalist 1982 The Bedford Gallery 1981 United Nations Secretariat 1980 United Nations Secretariat Interviews and Featured Work… |
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