Pearson, Anthony

American, b. 1969

BiographyAnthony Pearson is a photographer and sculptor whose studio practice is dedicated to nonrepresentational mark making and the pursuit of free aesthetic movement. Pearson’s “flares” (his terminology for untitled photographs) are large, minimalist works made from negatives exposed in a sun-damaged camera. Manifestations of a flaw within the camera itself—the result of a long exposure of the sun with a 500 mm telephoto lens—the hazy white discs of Pearson’s flares radiate outward into monochromatic fields, atmospheric shapes generated by light waves reacting in aberrant ways with film. Pairing autonomous gestures with rigorous formatting, his photographs suggest a sense of realism within accidents, taking light as their conceptual and physical source.

Anthony Pearson completed his BFA from the California College of the Arts (1996) and his MFA from the University of California Los Angeles (1999). He has been included in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally, including at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, California (2014), the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Missouri (2012), and the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, (2011). His work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.