Bio
In his photo-based work, John Opera combines a deep interest in the visual characteristics of natural and scientific phenomena with a rigorous experimental approach to the techniques and apparatuses by which photographs have been defined and produced. Opera often returns to antiquated—but by no means exhausted—photographic tools and processes, including pinhole imaging, and more recently the cyanotype and anthotype.
He earned his BFA from SUNY New Paltz (1998) and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005).
Opera’s exhibitions include: Higher Pictures (New York), Longhouse Projects (New York), DOCUMENT (Chicago), Shane Campbell Gallery (Chicago), Andrew Rafacz Gallery (Chicago), The Suburban (Milwaukee), The Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), Transformer Station (Cleveland), Michael Jon Gallery (Miami), Macalester College Art Gallery (St. Paul), CEPA Gallery (Buffalo) and The Burchfield-Penney Art Center (Buffalo). His work has been the subject of a two-person exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and is featured in the second volume of MP3, co-published by Aperture and the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago). His work is part of the permanent collections of the DePaul Museum of Art (Chicago), the Burchfield-Penney Art Center (Buffalo), the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago), and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, among other institutions. Opera’s work has been reviewed by Artforum, Artforum.com, The New Yorker, Flash Art, The Chicago Tribune, The Miami Rail, The Buffalo News, and Chicago Artist Writers, among other publications.
Opera is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at University at Buffalo, SUNY. He is represented by DOCUMENT, Chicago, IL.
Click here for Research Statement (2023).
Click here for Research Portfolio (2023).
Click here for David LaRocca’s essay for Social Research.
Click here for explanatory video.
Additional links below.
ONE AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2023
Blue Dream, Document Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
The Observers, Document Gallery, Chicago, IL
2022
John Opera: Redux, Elder Gallery, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Omaha, NE
2021
Solo Presentation at June Art Fair with Document Gallery, Basel Switzerland.
2019
John Opera, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY.
John Opera, Document Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2018
John Opera and Paul Mpagi Sepuya, NADA Miami, Miami, FL.
John Opera, Davis Gallery, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY.
John Opera and Geraldo De Barros, Material Art Fair, Document Gallery, Mexico City.
2017
Technical Images, Document Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2016
John Opera and Adam Schreiber, Riverside Arts Center, Riverside, IL.
2015
John Opera, Higher Pictures, New York, NY.
2014
Not Here Yet, Loudhailer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
Equivalent Simulation, Michael Jon Gallery, Miami, FL.
2013
a priori, Longhouse Projects, New York, NY.
2012
People, Places, and Things, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2011
Anthotypes, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL.
John Opera and Matt Sheridan-Smith, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO.
2009
John Opera: MP3 II, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL.
Drinking Water In Bed, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2008
Zoar and Other Works, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL.
John Opera and Amir Zaki, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL.
2007
John Opera: Recent Photographs, Macalester College Art Gallery, St. Paul, MN.
2006
For Once, Then, Something, Burchfield Penney Art Center,Buffalo, NY.
2003
John Opera: Soup, Buffalo Arts Studio, Buffalo, NY.
2002
John Opera, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY.
2001
Soup: Recent Photographic Work by John Opera, Olean Public Gallery Olean, NY.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Expo Chicago, with Document Gallery, Chicago, IL
Social Photography X, Carriage Trade Gallery, New York, NY
Felix Art Fair, with Document Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2022
Paris Photo, Paris, France
Bad Omen, Paris London Hong Kong, Chicago, IL
Foreland Gallery Coalition, Foreland Campus for Contemporary Art, Catskill, NY
Painters Painting, Melanie Flood Projects, Portland OR
Felix Art Fair, Document Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Making Pictures from Plants: Contemporary Anthotypes, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI
The Living Image, The Halide Project, Philadelphia, PA
2021
Unique New Work curated by Alan Gutierrez, 1560 Collins, Miami FL
2020
Wedding of the Waters, The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art, Buffalo, NY.
Interiors, Document Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Benefit Auction Exhibition, Silver Eye Center for Photography, Pittsburgh, PA.
2019
Group Exhibition, President’s Home, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY.
Condo, Marinaro Gallery, New York, NY.
Benefit Auction Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit MI.
Land Derived Sentiments: Poems and Responses, Zeitgeist, Nashville, TN.
Contemporary Portraiture, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY.
John Opera and Erin Jane Nelson, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA.
2018
John Opera and Paul Mpagi Sepuya, NADA Miami, Miami, FL.
New Faculty Showcase, UB Center for the Arts, Buffalo NY.
Howard Fonda, Melanie Flood Projects, Portland, OR.
Primary, Korn Gallery, Drew University, Madison, NJ.
The Dangerous Professors, Flatland Gallery, Houston, TX.
John Opera and Geraldo De Barros, Material Art Fair, Document Gallery, Mexico City.
2017
Material Space, Practise, Chicago, IL.
re:collection, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL.
Extra Sensory: Process and Photography, Perspectives Gallery, Milwaukee, WI.
2016
Group Show, The Suburban, Milwaukee, WI
Chicago And Vicinity, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
Unfixed, Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH
MOCP At 40, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
Terms of Use: Reproducing the Photographic Image, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL
2015
Photography Sees The Surface, Higher Pictures, New York, NY
2014
Rocket Run: Abstraction from Chicago, Elder Gallery, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
Apocalyptic, Epic!, South of the Tracks, Chicago, IL
Fragments of an Unknowable Whole, Urban Arts Space, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Lateral, The Mission, Houston, TX
2013
Histories/Photographies, DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL
Weird Dude Energy, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
The New Now, Carter and Citizen, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Let Your Light In, Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
To Tell the Truth, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
Over the City and Through the Woods, Staler-Waldorf Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Indexing the World: Invention, Abstraction and Dissonance, Highland Park Art Center,IL
Art Los Angeles Contemporary Fair, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Indexing the World: Invention, Abstraction and Dissonance, The Art Center, Highland Park, IL
NADA Art Fair, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Miami, FL
Welcome to the Neighborhood, William H. Cooper Mfg. Co., Chicago, IL
2009
High School Art Show, Marmion Academy, Aurora IL
Interrupting a Beam Of Light, David Cunningham Projects, San Francisco CA
2008
Pictures of Nothing, Llyod Dobler Gallery, Chicago, IL
The World Is A Handkerchief, Dorsky Gallery, Queens, NY
Crit 3, Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY
Gateways: Space, Place and the Transformative, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
2007
Summer Group Show, Rowley Kennerk Gallery, Chicago, IL
Concerning Tomorrow, Harold Arts Residency, Chicago, IL
2006
Project Room, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005
Can I Get A Witness, Bucket Rider Gallery, Chicago, IL
Into the Woods, Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
Cross Cuts, Northern Lights, San Francisco, CA
Jonesing, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, NY
M.F.A. Exhibition, Gallery 2, Chicago, IL
2003
Rockwell, Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, NY
2002
Area Artists 2002 Collection, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Convergence 2002, Carnegie Art Center, Tonawanda, NY
2001
Exposure, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2000
John Opera: Photographs, Niagara County Community College Art Gallery, Sanborn, NY
1998
The Uncertainty Principle, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, S.U.N.Y New Paltz, NY
ARTICLES AND REVIEWS
2022
McQuaid, Cate. “The Art of Letting Go”, The Boston Globe, March 30, 2022.
Le, Jason N. “Painters Painting at Melanie Flood Projects”, Art and About
(https://artandaboutpdx.com/), Spring 2022, Portland, OR.
2021
Merkin, Daphne. “The Laconic Verses: Donald Antrim’s Account of Life-Threatening Despair”, Bookforum, Volume 28, Issue 4, (Illustration page 14).
2019
Park, Yihyun. “The Photographers”, Monthly Photography (South Korea), March 2019.
Foran, Jack. “John Opera at Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Burchfield Penney”, The Public, April 2019.
2018
Licata, Elizabeth. “Those Who Teach” Buffalo Spree Magazine, August 2018.
2017
Murkerson, Holly. “John Opera’s Technical Images at Document” Chicago Artist Writers, May 26, 2017.
2015
Aletti, Vince. “Photography Sees The Surface” New Yorker, August 10, 2015.
2014
Braithwaite, Hunter. “John Opera, Equivalent Simulation” Miamirail.org, 4/4/14.
2013
Weinstein, Michael. “Review: Histories/Photographies/DePaul Art Museum” New City, Oct. 29.
2012
Grabner, Michelle. “John Opera: Andrew Rafacz Gallery” ArtForum, December 2012, pg. 28. 2009
Cochran, Jessica. “Rising Stars” Chicago Social Interiors Magazine, Fall 2009, pgs. 58-60.
Grabner, Michelle. “MP3, II: Curtis Mann, John Opera, Stacia Yeapanis” Artforum.com, 8/30/2009.
Ritchie, Abraham. “MPIII” Artslant.com, August 31, 2009.
Sutherland, Emilie. “Media Reports” Photo District News Edu, Vol. 8, Issue 2, Fall 2009, pg. 20.
Waxman, Lori. “Television, Nature and the News, Mediated” Chicago Tribune, August 21, 2009.
Weinberg, Lauren. “MP3, Volume 2” Time Out Chicago, Issue 234, August 20-26, 2009.
2008
Cochran, Jessica. “John Opera and Amir Zaki” Chicago Social, January 2008.
Eler, Alicia. “John Opera” Artforum.com, September 2008.
Foumberg, Jason. “Eye Exam: Taking a Walk In Nature” New City, September 16, 2008.
Lang, Karissa. “John Opera and Amir Zaki” New City, January 24, 2008.
Menzies, Michelle. “Flash Review” Flash Art, November/December 2008, pg. 91.
Wenzel, Erik. “Black Forest” Artslant.com, September 15, 2008.
2006
Cain, Amina. “Into the Woods” Chicago Artists News, February 2006.
Huntington, Richard. “Human Nature” The Buffalo News, September 1, 2006.
2005
Huntington, Richard. “Valley Views” The Buffalo News, February 11, 2005, pg. G23.
2003
Adams, Bruce. “Apples and Oranges” The Buffalo News. May 30, 2003, pg. G21.
2002
Huntington, Richard. “Three Artists, Three Visions” The Buffalo News, March 1, 2002, pg. G22.
Lavatelli, Mark. “Bodies of Work” The Buffalo News. October 27, 2002.
PUBLICATIONS
2021
LaRocca, David. “Object Lessons: What Cyanotypes Teach Us About Digital Media,” Photography’s Materialities:Transatlantic Photographic Practices over the Long Nineteenth Century, ed. Geoffrey Bender and Rasmus Simonsen (Leuven: Leuven University Press, forthcoming, 2021), pages 209-235.
2017
Fraser, Pamela. How Color Works: Color Theory in the 21st Century, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
2015
John Opera Interview by David LaRocca. Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism.
2012
John Opera, Stevie Rexroth, Adam Schreiber. Location Books: Volume 6, Minneapolis, MN, 2012.
2009
Irvine, Karen. Midwest Photographer’s Project MP3: John Opera. New York, NY: Aperture Books, 2009.
2005
Massier, John. Jonseing Catalog. Buffalo, New York: Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, 2005.
2003
Larocca, David. “The Grammar of Origin” Soup Catalog. Buffalo, New York: Buffalo Arts Studio, 2003.
2002
Licata, Elizabeth. “Trigger Suite” Convergence Catalog. Tonawanda, NY: Carnegie Art Center, 2002.
Cavell, Stanley. Emerson’s Transcendental Etudes, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press,2002, (Cover).
EDUCATION
2005
MFA The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (2003-2005)
1998
BFA State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, NY (1993-1998)
Links
Point of Learning Interview with Peter Horn
Interview by David LaRocca for Afterimage Journal
Video interview with “Frank” magazine for Columbia College, Chicago
Visiting Artist lecture at Illinois State University Normal
Bio/Burchfield-Penney Art Center
Hunter Braithwaite for The Miami Rail
Exhibition at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Michelle Grabner for Artforum Magazine
Bad At Sports interview by Heidi Norton
Aperture book project in conjunction with the MOCP, Chicago