ABOUT THE ARTIST: Robert Calafiore employs his hand-built pinhole camera to create vivid large-scale one-of-a-kind chromogenic prints of abstracted still life tableaus and languid male nude studies. His interest in the process, traditional materials, and the reaction between light and chemistry, as well as the personal and universal stories told through everyday objects, drives the work in his studio practice. Elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary, the every day to a magical place, continues to be one of his primary motivators.No digital tools are ever used. Reflecting on the endless flood and speed of changing technology, Calafiore steps back and invests in prolonged experimentation, investigation and hands-on making that begin to speak to a change in how we use our bodies in today’s digital world. Noting the change in the physical dexterity of younger generations and in the way that technology has altered the way we see and experience the physical world has been a fascinating influence on his studio practice. The manner in which we interpret and react to the world around us has shifted. His work is about a pause, a break in the pace and a longer look into, through and across our everyday lives. A merging of passions; one for his muses, (both the glassware that holds so much of his family history and the relationships which energize him) and the observation of a dramatically new understanding of what it means to be human going forward. Robert received his MFA in Photography from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his BFA in Photography from Hartford Art School. Currently, he lives and works in West Hartford, CT where he is the Assistant Dean of the Hartford Art School. GALLERY 1/1 is pleased to have presented Robert's West Coast exhibition debut.