David Benjamin Sherry (born in 1981) is an American artist. Sherry's work consists primarily of

large format Large format refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame o ...

film photography, focusing on landscape and portraiture, as well as

photogram A photogram is a photographic image made without a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of a light-sensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The usual result is a negative shadow image th ...

s and painting, and has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Aspen and Moscow. He is based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Early life and education

David Benjamin Sherry was born January 14, 1981, in Stony Brook,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on the North Shore of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. At the age of five his family moved to

Woodstock, New York Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000 ...

, where he was raised. Sherry received his BFA degree in Photography from

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

in 2003 and an MFA degree in Photography from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 2007.

Work

His work has been featured in museum and gallery exhibitions such as MoMA PS1's "2010 Greater New York," the Aspen Art Museum's "The Anxiety of Photography" in 2011,

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the D ...

's "Out of Focus" in 2012,

LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961, ...

's "Lost Line" exhibition in 2013, "What is a Photograph?" at the

International Center for Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

in 2014. Since 2011 he has presented numerous solo exhibitions at

Salon 94 Salon 94 is an art gallery in New York City owned by Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn. History East 94th Street The gallery opened in 2003 in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on New York City’s Upper East Side as an integral part of Jeanne Greenberg Roha ...

gallery in New York City and Moran Bondaroff gallery in Los Angeles, CA. In 2011 he was a recipient of Rema Hort Mann Foundation Visual Arts Grant. Sherry's work varies from landscape and studio photography, to collage and sculpture, often with a heavy focus on color. Working with analogue film and printing techniques "the use of anachronistic, primitive methods reflects a concern with craft, introducing the hand of the artist into a medium most commonly associated with mechanical reproduction." Sherry's work often merges human and natural subjects, creating images in which landscapes take on anthropomorphic qualities and the humans in them become part of the landscape, as opposed to inhabitants. Sherry's use of vibrant monochrome color began while studying for his MFA at Yale. Working closely with master printer and photographer Richard Benson, Sherry discovered that through analog printing techniques, he could manipulate color film to chromatic extremes. For Sherry, the vibrant colors he incorporates into the work are a conduit for his intense, sometimes mystical connections to the natural world. His exhibition "Astral Desert", at

gallery in New York City explored the topography of the desert and American West through multiple processes pushing photography to a "chromatic extreme." In the exhibitions "Climate Vortex Sutra" and "Paradise Fire" Sherry's work continued to explore themes of queer landscape, as well as

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and its effects on the American landscape. In the series American Monuments, Sherry used his signature colored images to depict the spirit and intrinsic value of America's threatened system of national monuments, not only conveying the beauty of these important and ecologically diverse sites, but also shedding light upon the plight of the perennially exploited landscape of the American West. In the series Paradise Fire, Sherry presented works without the signature overlaid color of his previous landscapes, opting for the natural appearance of the scene, and often depicting the interaction of humans and the environment. He has published three books of photographs, the first, titled "It's Time" in 2009 with Damiani, a second book titled "Quantum Light" released in 2012 with Damiani and Salon 94 and a third, titled "Earth Changes" released in 2015 with Mörel Books. His work is held in permanent collections at the Wexner Center of the Arts, Columbus, OH; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and the Saatchi Collection, London, UK.

Books

* It's Time, Damiani (2009), * Quantum Light, Damiani/Salon 94 (2012), * Earth Changes, Morel Books (2015), * American Monuments, Radius (2019), * Pink Genesis, Aperture (2022), ISBN 978-1683952428

References

External links

Photographer's site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherry, David Benjamin Living people 1981 births Rhode Island School of Design alumni Yale School of Art alumni American LGBT photographers Queer photographers People from Woodstock, New York Photographers from New York (state) People from Stony Brook, New York 21st-century American LGBT people