John Brodkin has studied photography at Harvard and Georgetown Universities and the Smithsonian Institution. His eye for detail and keen sense of the absurd in daily life produce photographs with a pronounced element of humor and an undercurrent of quiet desperation which he has dubbed ￿suburban decay.￿ Frequent subjects include words, garbage, things falling apart, abstractions, odd juxtapositions, and subverted Washington D.C. icons. The occasional weak moment has lead to the production of some abstractions, landscapes, travel shots, and even some flower pictures, because there's something to be said for beauty too.

John usually photographs images as he finds them; nothing is generally moved or added physically or digitally. He edits photographs in Adobe Photoshop and makes pigment inkjet prints with the goal of creating a result that reflects what the eye would perceive, if for some reason it looked at the objects pictured. In this way he clings to the very old-fashioned notion that a photograph is in some sense true. The one exception  is a series of composites, which announce their unreality so obviously that they are clearly not intended to fool the viewer.

 

Past exhibitions:

  • Del Ray Artisans Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia, October 2007. Juried group exhibition entitled "Tribute to All Things Magical: The Light and the Dark." 
  • Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, Sept.-Oct. 2007. Juried group exhibition, "Images of Peace," commemorating Schweitzer￿s call for nuclear disarmament.
  •  Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, August 2007.  Juried exhibit entitled "Words."
  •  D.C. Arts Center, Washington D.C., July-Sept. 2007. Open exhibit by DCAC members and supporters.
  •  Heliport Gallery, Silver Spring, Maryland, April-June 2007. Juried group show of local artists.
  •  Kensington Day of the Book festival, Kensington, Maryland, April 2007. Street fair.
  •  Artomatic 2007, Crystal City, Virginia. April-May 2007. Huge regional group exhibit and free-for-all.
  •  Kensington Day of the Book festival, April 2006.
Prints are available directly from the artist, as well as at exhibitions in the Washington D.C. area and nationally.