2011 Artist Nominee Gallery

Francesca Romeo Work | Artist Statement & CV | Return to Artist List

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Artist Statement
I think about my work in a variety of ways from anthropological and historical, to emotional and psychological. I utilize a typological approach, where I select people that exemplify subcultures as a way of examining how alternative identities are constructed. Underlying this analysis, there is always a personal struggle on the part of my subject whether it stems from depression, addiction, disease or a period of transition in their lives. The physical manifestations of this can surface in a variety of ways from a cracked tooth, to bloodshot eyes, or pronounced veins, and the resulting mood is one of melancholy or desperation.

I know all of my subjects personally; they are either friends, or lovers that I have grown close to. Using these relationships as the basis of my work allows me to elicit something emotive, a certain tenor that displays the inevitable exhaustion of life. In order to get to this I use a very direct approach. No one is dressed up, nothing is staged, and these images are simply shot in bars, apartments, on the floor, and in the city streets, using available light. Sometimes the effect is stylized and cinematic, and other times it is rendered as muted intimacy. It is the subtle drama of life that I’m interested in and the way that people attempt to guard themselves even though so much of their vulnerability is apparent in a gaze.

CV
FRANCESCA ROMEO

EDUCATION
2005 Pratt Institute * Honors MFA Photography / MS Art History 
1997 New York Film Academy * Certificate Award for short filmmaking 
1996 UC Berkeley * BA English Literature 
1995-1996 Queen Mary and Westfield College * Study Abroad Program 

EXHIBITIONS  
2010
*Arts Council of Wilson
Group show of “Recent acquisitions from the Collection of Allen Thomas Jr.”
*Daniel Cooney Fine Art
Group show of self-portraiture

2009
*Daniel Cooney Fine Art
Dual show with Tema Stauffer

2008
*Governor’s Island Exhibition
Group Show organized by the 4 Heads Collective

2006   
*P.S. 122
Group show entitled “Bearings: The Female Figure” 
*A.M. Richards Gallery NYC
Show entitled “In Through the  Outdoor: Portraits of Intimacy”   

2004  
*Art In General - NYC
Group show  entitled “In this Place”  
*Office Ops Brooklyn, NY
Group show of NY based emerging photographers
*Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY
Group show of portraiture entitled “Face to Face”

2002  
*University of Southern Illinois - Carbondale, IL
Solo show
*Williamsburg Art Historical Society Brooklyn, NY
Group show  of selected MFA students 
*Art In General New York, NY
Group show of selected MFA students 2001  
*New York University New York, NY
API fellowship award exhibition 

PRESS/AWARDS/LECTURES
Visiting Artist: UCSC (2010), Parson’s University (2010), International Center of Photography (2006, 2007, 2008), School of Visual Arts (2008, 2009), Mass Arts (2003)

Fellowship Award: American Photography Institute (2001)

Reviews: The New Yorker (2009), Artnet (2006), The New York Times (2004), Art Papers (2004)

Collections: Al Uzielli, Michael Hoeh, Allen Thomas Jr.