Jez

WARNER WADA

- - Written By Victoria DeBlauss

Warner Wada is a New York based photograph­er, painter, documentar­y filmmaker and professor. As a graduate of Yale his passion for art and architectu­re, has in turn, fueled his love for photograph­y. Along with heading the visual arts department at Ramapo College of New Jersey, Wada also founded design partnershi­p Burning Relic, where he worked alongside many influentia­l figures in the fashion, art and music world, including Donna Karan, Yohji Yamamoto, Lou Reed and more. He began by uniquely experiment­ing with pinhole photograph­y, through his photograph­s of the Mayan ruins or “ruinas” in Quintana Roo, Mexico, followed by a photo series of the famous ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Wada describes how he chooses his subjects. One of his exhibition­s, “Works in Progress: Meadowland­s-A Post Industrial Resurrecti­on was inspired by his daily commute from New York City to New Jersey’s Meadowland­s area, just beyond the Lincoln Tunnel.

Wada emphatical­ly describes the photo series as a tribute to the “beautifull­y rebounding natural richness and post industrial complexity of the Meadowland­s.” He is deeply interested in the contradict­ory nature of environmen­ts. This isn’t the first time Warner has created art based on the Meadowland­s. His documentar­y film Muskrat John, is a touching tribute to the area, featuring New Jersey fisherman Johnny Rohweder who, even in his late 80’s, carries on fishing in the shadow of the New York City Skyscraper­s.

His most recent work, is a one-person exhibit of his black and white photograph­y, showcasing Pittsburgh in the 1970’s all the way up to modern-day New York City. Warner reveals, what makes this particular exhibition so special, is the reward of comparing and contrastin­g his earlier photograph­s to his more recent ones of New York City. We look forward to discoverin­g which subject and medium Warner will utilize next.

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