John Woodruff was born in West Hartford, CT, in 1954. In 1979, he received a B.S.in biology from University of Hartford and a minor in photography from the Hartford Art School.

 

John fell in love with photography through the Polaroid camera. Its immediate results were addictive. Eventually his father gave him his 35mm Exacta. It had an inherent film transport issue and would frequently overlap at least part of two frames. What some viewed as a mistake was to John the find of a lifetime. To this day he continues to use, at least in part, the concept and power of overlapped (and disparate) images.

 

Upon graduation, John accepted a job as a studio photographer working for advertisers and industry. He gained extensive knowledge in large format (4x5, 8x10), processing E-6 and C-41, black and white in nitrogen burst tanks, color printing, lighting with continuous source and composition. Eventually he broke out on his own focusing on architectural photography for architects and builders.

 

Throughout his career, John continued to focus on lens-based art showing frequently in the Hartford, New Haven, Western MA and NYC areas. His science and art background generally push him towards images that reflect the two and his photographs tend to be constructed rather than photographing the “moment.” John frequently works on two series at a time since “moving from one line of thought to the other helps give me a break from one or the other and frees up my mind a bit to keep either fresh. I also find myself reinventing a lot of what I do by recycling past and present images.”

 

John typically likes to work with paper, organic shapes, disparate images and illusion of depth. His visually charged images tend to linger at the intersection of painting and photography, imagery and abstraction.

 

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS

Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill, ME 2023

Shaw Contemporary Jewelry, Northeast Harbor, ME 2021
The Maine Museum of Photographic Art – Antidote, 2021
Arno Maris Gallery at Westfield State, Westfield, MA 1993
The Promenade Gallery at the Bushnell, Hartford, CT 1992
New Space Gallery, Manchester Community College, Manchester, CT 1988

 

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

Maine Museum of Photographic Art, Portland, ME, Figurative - The Body as Language, August 2 - September 28, 2024

Maine Museum of Photographic Art, Portland, ME, Traditional Painting Genres in Photography, December 8, 2023 - January 31, 2024

The Parsonage Gallery, Searsport, ME, Winter Exhibition, December 2023 - February 2024

Praxis, The Artist Intervenes, curated by Aline Smithson, February 18 - March 4, 2023
Maine Museum of Photographic Art, Portland, ME, Twelfth Night, December 5, 2022 - January 31, 2023
Maine Museum of Photographic Art, Portland, ME 
July1 - August 23, 2022
Cove Street Arts, Portland, ME - Abstract Nature
February 25 - April 24, 2021
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT 1994
The Pump House Gallery, Hartford, CT, curated by Linda Lindroth 1993
The Robin Rice Gallery, NYC 1992

 

OTHER

The Curated Fridge, Winter 2024

Big Wing Review | Literary Magazine, December 1, 2023

Your Daily Photograph - "Ornament 21," August 6, 2023

Photographic Resource Center - Zoom Presentation "Botanicals," January 18, 2023