Asztalos, Courtney

American, b. 1988

BiographyIn her series, Purple Domino (2015-2017), Courtney Asztalos creates photographs of older women in casinos in New York, Nevada, and Florida. Her images are shot very close-up with heavy flash in contrasted neon, exposing every detail and imperfection of the spaces and her subjects. Their makeup, jewelry, and clothing choices speak to the glamour of a past era, considering the role of the casino as a portal or escape to another time or place.

Courtney Asztalos received her MFA in Art Photography from Syracuse University. Her work is in the collections of many universities, such as the UCLA Arts Library. She has photographed for the New York Times and The Wire. She has been included in exhibitions at the Meinblau, Berlin, Germany (2016); PØST, Los Angeles, CA (2015); Crisp-Ellert Museum, St. Augustine, FL (2014); and the Multimedia Museum, Moscow, Russia (2014); and others. She was a runner up for the 2017 MoCP Snider Prize.