Member Since January 22nd, 2009
Artist Biography
Patrick Linehan was born in Chicago in 1953, and has been a photographer since 1970. He studied with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind at Rhode Island School of Design, earning a BFA in Photography in 1975, and an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1980. Since 1981 he has been a commercial photographer, specializing in architectural, industrial and product photography. While building his commercial business, he has always made time to do his own artwork. Since 1997, he has worked extensively on several bodies of work, including photographs from Greece, Spain, Chicago, and New Mexico. His work is included in the collections of The Library of Congress, The Museum of Modern Art and many private and corporate collections.
He lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife and three children.
Artist Statement
Ancient whitewashed walls along a sloping walkway in Greece, a skyscraper in Chicago, shadow landscapes dancing on adobe walls, strange rock formations in a badlands area of New Mexico--these are some of the places that call to me. In the more than thirty years that I have been a photographer, I have been drawn to working with landscapes, both natural and man-made. The act of walking through an environment to make pictures is a ritual that leads me to a more centered way of being. I see the world differently, as if for the first time. Whether working in a wilderness or urban landscape, I am not concerned with documenting a place, but rather with how the environment makes me feel. More than a mere record of these places, the resulting pictures are instead a response to them.
I have always been concerned with how a three dimensional space translates to a two dimensional surface. I see buildings, rocks and trees as sculpture with their own personality or spirit. I try to convey this spirit in my pictures.
Although each photograph stands on its own, I work in series, often returning to the same place, each trip adding to my exploration and expression of that place.
My photographs use light, shadow, form and texture to define a space. Watching and waiting for these elements to come together and using them to express my feelings will, hopefully, result in photographs that allow the viewer to see the world in a new and different way.