Bio

Richard Anthony Peña is an outsider, an independent visual artist who quietly observes and captures the American landscape and life. His journey has spanned over nine geographical locations in the United States over the last forty years. Words like real, natural, and beautiful describe his definitive work, while words like otherworldly, ethereal, and cognitive describe his abstract work. Peña’s explorations are enduring, beautiful, and melancholy representations. The images are a visual testament lionizing the end of the last century and this present century with a lens towards the future. Peña grew up in New Mexico, where he developed his sense of exploration, curiosity, and imagination. Peña graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design and year of post-graduate study at the Glassell School, Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas. Now resides in North Carolina.

Artist’s Statement

I have always been interested in photographic explorations and themes within the history of photography, using the agencies of traditional, social, and experimental landscapes. The body of work is longitudinal, engendering biographical, social, emotional, or cognitive experiences that define a sense of place, time, and state of being. My interpretation of the landscape becomes personal, like a pronoun, which surveys and transforms the work into an idiosyncratic and collective biographical statement. The working methods are unplanned, spontaneous, and with visual outcomes that are unpredictable. The unpredictability of creativity is of interest in a way that the photographic record can only produce.

Thirteen Portfolios

New Works: Digital Arts | The Return to Abstractions
Recent Findings | Southern Exposures
Social Landscapes | Black & White 20th Century Photography
Traditional Landscapes | Color and Black & White Photography
Social Landscapes | Color Photography
Mobile Phone Photography | The Beauty of Transponding
Channel Surfing: The Icon Persona | SX 70 Polaroids
Panoramic Landscapes | The Constructed Image
Still Life: Flora Nocturne | The Secret Life of Flora
Experimental Landscapes | Alternative Places
PlacesArgus: Mystical Songs and Poetic Transformation | Diptychs
L’Esprit du Mouvement | Modern Dance Photography
Disasters of War; Syria, Iraq, and the Levant | Politica | Montages

Description of Physical Materials

Archival Museum Quality Inks: High-quality pigmented inks stable with accurate color fidelity, gloss levels, and scratch resistance. Archival Substrate Dimensions: 16×20 Hahnemuhle William Turner 310 gsm Textured 100% Cotton.

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