John D'Agostino
archival pigment ink on canvas, 2008
According to John D'Agostino the shards of rescued Tiffany he photographs are used not as objects in a still life but as "negatives". The combination of good lighting and Tiffany's favrile glass create unique and beautiful biomorphic forms printed on sheets of archival canvas.
John D'Agostino
The Signature of All Things
archival pigment ink on canvas, 2009
John D'Agostino's work is a continuation of his ancestor's heritage and passion for the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. John D'Agostino's grandfather, Vito D'Agostino, was such an admirer of Tiffany's work that during his fall from public adoration and liquidation of Tiffany's studios, Vito saved and salvaged dozens of boxes of Tiffany pieces from destruction. In the boxes collected were scrapbooks, original designs and favrile glass, the raw material intended for Tiffany's stained glass. What Vito D'Agostino could not salvage was thrown into the East River. His grandfather's passion for a fading art form is to thank for John D'Agostino's modern day photographs.
John D'Agostino
archival pigment ink on canvas, 2009
Recently, John D'Agostino's work and the history behind it have received a number of great reviews and publicity. Hunting Grounds, 2008 was featured on the cover of Glass #119, Summer '10 with a nicely written article about D'Agostino and his work gracing the pages of the publication. In a lecture titled The 10 Most Exciting Photographers I Learned About in the Last Year given by Rebecca Senf at the Phoenix Art Museum, John D'Agostino is mentioned along with other photographers using photography in a way that presents the world in a manner such as the world has never seen. Also this summer, ARTFORUM's Art&Education published John D'Agostino's paper The Strength to Dream: How Remnants of the Past Illustrate a Legacy of The Representation of Vision. A special edition monograph, Empire of Glass, done with the Griffin Museum of Photography was recently released in 2009. Empire of Glass is a limited edition of 25 copies of 72 pages with 32 full color plates.
John D'Agostino
The Strength to Dream
archival pigment ink on canvas, 2009
To view John D'Agostino's work or monograph in person, or if you have any questions about him or one of our other artists, please call or come by the gallery!
-Leah Hebert Fourmy
