b. Portland, OR, 1978
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
While working as a sternman on a lobster boat in Maine, Peter Holzhauer discovered a book collection that had been donated to the town library by the photographer and filmmaker, Ralph Steiner. This encounter prompted Holzhauer to shift away from producing calendar and postcard type scenic pictures of raw nature and to begin a sustained investigation of urban spaces with a large format camera.
His early output, including Los Angeles Class (2005-2007), made while he was a student of James Welling at UCLA, shows a rigorous attentiveness to the potential of “straight” or un-manipulated photography. However, Holzhauer’s work also evinces a reaction against prevailing ideals of 1970s landscape photography by his insistence on not employing repetition or the traditional notion of photographic series that is typically associated with this period.
This is even more clear in his project, The Marine Layer (2005-2010), where pictures made in his hometown in Maine are juxtaposed with still lives and urban scenes from Los Angeles. Holzhauer remains transfixed by how photography can morph the world into new and unknown facts in spite of the intentions of the camera operator.
Holzhauer’s recent work includes both still images and video depicting the fishing industry in coastal Maine; images of people working and views of contemporary life in Los Angeles; and photographs of remote landscapes in Iceland.
Education
| 2007 | MFA, University of California, Los Angeles |
| 2004 | BFA, Art Institute of Boston |
Exhibitions
| 2019 | First Stone for a Film (solo,) Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA |
| Index, Los Angeles, CA | |
| 2018 | in case you missed it, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA |
| Monotasking, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA | |
| 2017 | Soil Erosion, organized by Shannon Ebner, Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
| 2016 | Refenestration, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles, CA |
| 2015 | Perfect Likeness, Photography and Composition, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (catalogue) |
| Staples and Doodles, The Vanity Bakersfield, Todd Madigan Gallery Annex, Bakersfield, CA | |
| Ansel Addams Family Values, Arturo Bandini, Los Angeles, CA | |
| Little Strokes Fell Great Oaks, Lord Ludd, Philadelphia, PA | |
| 2014 | Me and Benjamin, Gallerie Xippas, Paris, France |
| Soft Target, M+B Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (organized by Phil Chang and Matthew Porter) | |
| Lay of the Land, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | |
| 2013 | My Money, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, FL |
| Ensuing Pictures, The Peer to Peer Exhibition, Concourse Gallery, Emily Carr University, Vancouver, BC | |
| Rogue Wave ‘13, LA Louver Gallery, Venice, CA | |
| 2012 | Poule!, Fundación/Colección Jumex, Ecatepec, Mexico (catalogue) |
| A Romantic Measure, Charlie James Gallery, LosAngeles | |
| Moments Measured, Los Angeles County Museum of Art | |
| 2011 | Works in the Lounge, Night Gallery, Los Angeles |
| Primer 2, Luckman Gallery, Cal State Los Angeles | |
| Assembly, Fred Torres Collaborations, NewYork, NY | |
| 2010 | The City Proper, Margo Leavin Gallery, LosAngeles, CA (organized by James Welling) |
| Contemporary US Photography, Houston, Texas, (organized by Edward Robinson, LACMA, catalogue) | |
| A about bauhaus…harm neu tues, Cardwell Jimmerson, Culver City, CA (organized by Matthew Brandt) | |
| Embarrassment, Gallery KM, Santa Monica, CA | |
| 2007 | Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Portland, ME (catalogue) |
| 2005 | Vital Signs, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY (catalogue) |
Publications
| Public Servants, New Museum of Contemporary Art, 2016 |
| Both Sides of Sunset, Photographing Los Angeles, Metropolis Books, 2015 |
| 14 Photographs self published artist’s book 2015 |
| N+1, Issue 20, 2014 |
| Hayden’s Ferry Review, Issue 54, 2014 |
| Blind Spot 20thAnniversary Issue, 2014 |
| On the work of Peter Holzhauer, Mark Ruwedel, Capture Photography Festival 1.0 Catalog 2013 |
| Bounty, Chris Lipomi and Natilee Harren, 2012 |
| Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers, Edward Robinson and Sarah Bay Williams, Fotofest 2010 |
| The Marine Layer self published artist’s book, 2008 |
| Blind Spot Issue33, 2005 |
Press
| Review: A photographer’s portraits of Iceland, in all of its epic, impossible beauty, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2019 |
| Perfect Likeness: Photography and Composition at the Hammer, Randy Rice, Contemporary Art Review LA, June 30, 2015 |
| Can you Capture L.A.’s Complexity in a Photo Book?, Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, June 11, 2015 |
| My Money at Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Bryan Granger, DailyServing.com, August 9, 2013 |
| Review: 'Rogue Wave' at LA Louver a micro-bienniel at its best, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2013 |
| Expect Everything: Photographs of Los Angeles, Aaron Rothman, Places.Design Observer.com, May 2, 2013 |
| A Lens on the Land, Kim Beil, Art ltd. March/April 2011 |
| Fotofest Shows, Douglas Britt, Houston Chronicle, April 14, 2010 |
| Fotofest focuses on haunting images of contemporary America, Charlotte Cotton, Culturemap Houston, March 12, 2010 |
| Culturemap Houston, March 12, 2010 |
| 2007 Biennial @ The Portland Museum of Art, Matthew Nash, Big Red & Shiny, April 23, 2007 |
| Contemplating Relationships, Ian Paige, Portland Phoenix, April 13, 2007 |
| Edgy, ominous views of modern life, Stuart Low, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, July 17, 2005 |
Public Collections
| George Eastman Museum |
| Hammer Museum |
| Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
| Fundación/Colección Jumex |
| Newark Museum |
| Boston Athenaeum |