BIO
Syl Arena (born Phoenix, Arizona) is a California-based artist known for his explorations of non-representational photography. He freely admits that he is addicted to color and shadow. In his current series, Constructed Voids, Arena deconstructs white light into vibrant hues and mixes them onto monochromatic constructs. Through the intersection of light, construct, and lens, Arena finds transformative relationships that he describes as “inner landscapes.”
Arena is also greatly interested in commenting on the loss of the image-object in our screen-based world. Increasingly he positions his photographs as objects rather than merely as images. To this end, the Constructed Voids are hung as bare sheets of chromogenic paper in a manner that bends the prints outward from the wall and allows them to undulate gently.
Arena earned an MFA from Lesley University (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona). He has taught workshops for Maine Media Workshops, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, the Rocky Mountain School of Photography, and at events in Brazil, Canada, Cuba, and Dubai.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 LA Open 2019, TAG Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Magnus Opus 30,* Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Sacramento, CA
Sixth Open Call,* Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI
* upcoming exhibition
2018 Abstracts 2018, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Color Cue, CENTR, Santa FE, NM
Contemporary Photography 2018, CICA Museum, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Faculty Exhibition, Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Kromatik, Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2017 Color Photography Now, Blackbox Gallery, Portland, OR
EAFA Juried Abstract Show, Evergreen Association of Fine Arts, Bellevue, WA
Good Bokeh, DAB Art / H Gallery, Ventura, CA
LA Artcore 1st Annual Photographic Exhibition, LA Artcore, Los Angeles, CA
Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
Light Sensitive 2017, Art Intersection, Gilbert, AZ
MWCP Juried Exhibition, Midwest Center for Photography, Wichita, KS
New Visions 2017, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo, CA
Order and Chaos Chautauqua National Juried Exhibition, Giles Gallery, Richmond, KY
Photowork 2017, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, NY
Visions of Cuba, Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba
2016 Aperture Summer Open: Photography Is Magic, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
ARTIST RESIDENCY
2017–2018 Penumbra Workspace Program, Penumbra Foundation, New York, NY
RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
2017 Todd Walker Research Fellowship, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
BOOKS AUTHORED
2015 Speedliter’s Handbook, Second Edition, Peachpit Press
2013 Lighting for Digital Photography, Peachpit Press
2010 Speedliter’s Handbook, Peachpit Press
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2018–present West Valley College, San Luis Obispo, CA
2017–present Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
2013–present Mission College Prep, San Luis Obispo, CA
SUMMER WORKSHOPS TAUGHT
2014–present Rocky Mountain School of Photography, Missoula, MT
2012–2015 Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Santa Fe, NM
2011–2014 Maine Media Workshops, Rockport, ME
EDUCATION
MFA Visual Arts—Photography, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
BFA Studio Art—Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
DETAILED C.V. > Syl Arena Detailed CV rev 190120