Perry Manuk

About

What has kept me with photography is that it is grounded in the real. Not that a photograph is an exact capture of any truth — it isn't, and photographers like Eugene Smith understood that better than most — but it begins with something that was actually there, in front of the camera, in the light it happened to be in.

That grounding is a constraint I choose. It isn't required. The medium runs a whole spectrum and plenty of good work sits at the other end of it, made without any obligation to the world at all. I want the obligation. Whatever interpretation I bring afterwards — and there is a lot of it, in the exposure, in the printing — it is answerable to something tangible that was in front of me.

Perry Manuk is a photographer originally from Santa Barbara, California. He studied at Brooks Institute of Photography from 2002 to 2005 where he won the First Prize Portfolio Award in photography from PIEA, and earned a BFA. Perry completed his MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art, where he was awarded a Graduate Merit Fellowship. He also developed and facilitated a photography program at the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara, and was engaged as a Continuing Education photography instructor at Fairfax County Public School in Virginia, as well as an instructor through Penn Camera in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C.

Past gallery exhibitions include Constructed Spaces, exhibited at the Meyerhof Gallery in Baltimore, Red's Gallery (Santa Barbara), Penn Gallery (Baltimore), Fox 3 (Baltimore), Galerie Lauth (Germany), ArtLink (Israel) and the Easton Gallery of Photographic Arts (Easton). His work has been featured in Black and White Magazine, Adore Noir, Renegade Vision and 28mm.org. Perry's long-held interest in illustrating unique perspectives and relationships to public spaces has seen him producing work in England, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Russia, Germany, Poland, Turkey, Israel, Czech Republic, as well as across the U.S. and in Canada.

Quiet. Lonely. Frozen. Forgotten. All of these words could be used to describe Perry's atmospheric and contemplative landscapes, although we would be mistaken to interpret the sense of melancholy normally associated with such adjectives. On the contrary, there is solace in these often sprawling scenes, an undeniable comfort in the absence of people. There is safety in the sense of solitude here, peacefulness in abandonment.

Perry's superb sense of composition draws us into a world where nature has reclaimed the landscape, where man's impact upon it has become a part of the terrain itself. The way he organizes within the frame of his camera underscores the serenity he sees in his subject matter, and we are able to experience the tranquility of these places from his unique perspective. The intense stillness is exaggerated by the intense focus and high depth of field favored by Perry, while longer exposures obfuscate sky and water, making for incredibly dense and rich images. The high quality of his prints add to the moody and meditative feel of his work while accentuating the drama of the deserted land.

In this day in age, it is so easy to find ourselves distracted by technology and overwhelmed by development that it often seems impossible to truly be alone. Perry's work offers us an escape from the daily demands on our psyche and our attention. Far from documentary, his work reveals more about his relationship to his subject matter and the solace he seeks there, offering us the experience of the safe places he has discovered.

— Connie Imboden, 26 March 2014

Education

2011–2013
MFA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
2002–2005
BFA, Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, CA

Solo exhibitions

2014
Galerie Lauth, Ludwigshafen, Germany
2013
Easton Gallery of Photographic Arts, Easton, MD
2013
Project 1628, Baltimore, MD
2013
Meyerhof Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2008
Penn Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2006
Red's, Santa Barbara, CA

Group exhibitions

2014
Art Link Photo Festival, Tel Aviv
2014
St Pauli Stadium, Hamburg, Germany
2013
Galerie Lauth, Ludwigshafen, Germany
2013
Affordable Art Fair, Hamburg, Germany
2013
Easton Gallery of Photographic Arts, Easton, MD
2013
Fox 3, Baltimore, MD
2012
North Ave Market Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2005
Salton Sea group show, Brooks Institute, Santa Barbara, CA
2002
Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA

Publications

2014
Fraction Magazine, Issue 62 — “Tree Swing” · Sixth Anniversary Issue
2014
die Rheinpfalz — “Leere Blicke unter die Hochstraßen” · Heike Marx, 2 June 2014, on “Solitary Spaces” at Galerie Lauth
2014
Adore Noir, Issue 19 — interview · April 2014
2014
Photo Is:rael — “Americana: Limitless Possibilities” · April 2014, on the ArtLink “Americana” exhibition, curator Maya Anner
2013
die Rheinpfalz — “Blasierte Kunstkenner” · Heike Marx, 30 December 2013, on the Galerie Lauth group show
2013
Black and White Magazine
2013
limitedunlimited.nl — featured photograph · 22 April 2013
2013
I Still Shoot Film — “Film Photographer Spotlight”
2013
bmore<art> — interview with Cara Ober · 4 November 2013, on “Landmarked” at Die Botschaft

Awards

2005
First Prize Portfolio Award, PIEA
Graduate Merit Fellowship, Maryland Institute College of Art