CHRIS VERENE: Family

My Twin Cousin's Husband's Brother's Cousin's Cousins
Photograph (c) Chris Verene /All Rights Reserved

The Same Day They Signed The Divorce Papers, A Tornado Hit The House

Photograph (c) Chris Verene /All Rights Reserved

Cheyenne and Dalton
Photograph (c) Chris Verene /All Rights Reserved

CHRIS VERENE follows the lives of his family and friends. “Verene walks right into the lives of his folks, showing you how they are, without any embarrassment on either side. Their togetherness is taken for granted so openly that the viewer feels at each moment like one of them, a member of the clan. Verene’s color [is] tender, warm and sensual, though stops well short of being glamorous . . . flooding them all with a strange, sweet romance. These pictures convey his bittersweet fondness for a smaller world in which he grew up but no longer shares, but which has lessons to teach him about the inroads of aging, disability and other difficulties. People do what they can to help each other and themselves, all from ‘leaking boats.’ Meanwhile, the dark room and the night bring tidings of their isolation. Many viewers are familiar with visits back home in this mood, which Verene renders luminous and fatal.”–Max Kozloff, The Theater of the Face: Portrait Photography Since 1900

Verene first received recognition in 2000 appearing in The Whitney Biennial and the publication of CHRIS VERENE by Twin Palms Publications with concurrent exhibits at The Pat Hearn Gallery, Colin DeLand American Fine Arts Co., and The Paul Morris Gallery. Verene’s work is in the collection of The Whitney Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum,, The Walker Art Center, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among others. In 2001, Verene was the recipient of the first Pollock/Krasner award given for photography. His work has been featured in ARTFORUM, Art In America, ArtNews, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Vanity Fair, Harper’s, Vogue, and The New Yorker, among others.

Monograph FAMILY / Twin Palms Publishers / Spring 2010