Richard Tuschman

b. 1956, American
Bio Statement More Portfolios

Hopper Meditations

Richard Tuschman: Pink Bedroom (Window Seat), 2013

Richard Tuschman: Woman With Book and Letter, 2013

Richard Tuschman: Woman and Man On A Bed, 2012

Richard Tuschman: Pink Bedroom (Still Life At Night), 2013

Richard Tuschman: Pink Bedroom (Odalisque), 2013

Richard Tuschman: Pink Bedroom (Daydream)

Richard Tuschman: Green Bedroom #2 (4am)

Richard Tuschman: Morning in A City, 2012

Richard Tuschman: Hotel by Railroad, 2012

Richard Tuschman: Green Bedroom (Morning), 2013

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Richard Tuschman Bio

Awards | Solo Exhibitions | Group Exhibitions | Education

Chronology
1956	Born, Toledo, OH

Awards
2015	New Orleans Photo Alliance 2015 Clarence John Laughlin Award, Finalist, New Orleans, LA

2014	LensCulture Exposure Awards, 3rd Prize, Paris, France

2014	Center Project Launch Juror's Award, Roger Watson of the Fox Talbot Museum, Santa Fe, NM

2013	Prix de la Photographie, Silver Medal, Digitally Enhanced, Paris, France

2013	International Kontinent Awards, 1st Place, Fine Arts Project, Izmir, Turkey

2013	Critical Mass Top 50-Photolucida, Portland, OR

2013	International Photo Awards, 2nd Place Digitally Enhanced, Los Angeles, CA

2011	Peaches & Cream International Competition, 1st Place, London, UK

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Solo Exhibitions
2016	Once Upon A Time in Kazminirz (Coming this Fall), photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2016	Once Upon A Time in Kazminirz, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2014	Hopper Meditations, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2014	Hopper Meditations, photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

1985	Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY

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Group Exhibitions
2015	Small Is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, New York City

2015	2015 INFOCUS Photobid auction and exhibition, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

2014	Hopperiana, Photology Gallery, Milan, Italy

2014	Interiors, Flowers Gallery, New York City, NY

2014	Critical Mass Top 50 Show, Corden\|Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2014	Critical Mass Top 50 Show, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

2014	About Face, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2014	Edge of a Dream, Snap! Space, Orlando, FL

2014	Critical Mass Top 50 Show, Houston Center of Photography, Houston, TX

2014	Critical Mass Top 50 Show, Corden\|Potts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2014	LensCulture Exposure Awards, London College of Communication, London, UK

2013	International Photo Awards Best of Show, Splashlight Studios, New York, NY

2011	Peaches & Cream Award Winners, Dreamspace Gallery, London, UK

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Education
1974 - 1978	University of Michigan School of Art, BFA in Painting and Printmaking

Richard Tuschman Statement

Artist Statement
Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz Statement

Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz is a novella told in staged photographs. It portrays an episode in the life of a fictional Jewish family living in Krakow, Poland in the year 1930. Set in the historically Jewish neighborhood of Kazimierz, the series was inspired by visits to Krakow, where my wife, Ewa, grew up and attended University. This is also not far from where many of my own East European Jewish ancestors lived before immigrating to America around 1900. The project is my attempt to visually weave together narrative fiction with strands of both cultural and family history, while paying homage to painters I love, like Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Balthus, and Di Chirico, as well as photographers like Bill Brandt.

Dreamlike and poetic in style, Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz tells a tale primarily of loss. Death, the fraying of family bonds, and feelings of grief haunt many of the images, but these are also punctuated by moments of love, longing, and tenderness. The neighborhood of Kazimierz itself is a metaphor for loss and decay. As described in 1935 by the Jewish historian, Meir Balaban, by then the Jews remaining in the “once vibrant” neighborhood of Kazimierz were “only the poor and the ultra-conservative.” And while the series takes place some years before the death camps of the Holocaust, a growing darkness is apparent, along with the underlying awareness that most likely and tragically, the fates of all of the characters are doomed by history.

Like Hopper Meditations, my previous series, the images in Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz were created by digitally marrying dollhouse-size dioramas with live models. First, I built, painted and photographed the sets in my studio. I then photographed the live models against a plain backdrop, and lastly, made the digital composites in Photoshop. This way of working affords me control over the elements of set design, lighting, and composition. All of these aspects are significantly inspired by both theatre and cinema, as well as the artists I mentioned. While I strive to make the miniature sets as convincing as possible, they deviate just enough from reality to enhance the theatrical, slightly surreal mood.

In an attempt to both depart from and build upon Hopper Meditations, in which each image contained its own discrete story, all of the images in Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz are linked to a larger narrative arc. While I have a particular sequence of events in my own mind, I like to think of this story as open-ended, perhaps as movie stills from an unseen motion picture. Thus, each viewer is left to ponder and interpret each image, to fill in the gaps between the images, or to rearrange their chronological sequence. It is my hope that in this way, the pictures in Once Upon A Time In Kazimierz reflect the fleeting, fluid nature of both memory, and of dreams.

Hopper Meditations Statement

Hopper Meditations is a personal photographic response to the work of the American painter, Edward Hopper.

My images are created by digitally marrying dollhouse-size dioramas with live models. The sets I built, painted and photographed in my studio. I then photographed the models, and lastly, made the digital composites in Photoshop.

I have always loved the way Hopper’s paintings, with an economy of means, are able to address the mysteries and complexities of the human condition. Placing one or two figures in humble, intimate settings, Hopper created quiet scenes that are psychologically compelling with open-ended narratives. I like to think of my images as dramas for a small stage, with the figures as actors in a one or two character play. Dramatic lighting heightens the emotional overtones, but any final interpretation, along with each character’s story, is ultimately left for the viewer to ponder.

Richard Tuschman Books
Available from photo-eye