About Jan Oswald

For the last 25 years I have been creating painterly fine art photographs. Working in large format I start with a concept inspired by a found object or picture or even a literary phrase. It may even be from my unconscious and I don’t know what it will turn into when I’m done.  It has become a mirror of my spiritual development over the decades.

Some of my compositions can take up to a week to complete.  The process starts with the idea and then evolves.  There is a moment when I feel a resonance with the set, an empathy with the elements, and that’s when I know I’m getting there.  This is the spiritual aspect that I seek.

All of my compositions are created in camera, using multiple exposures on one sheet of film.  I construct a multi-layered set that I then photograph using luminous lighting techniques from a variety of light sources.  I paint my own backgrounds and use many found objects as well as pigments and dyes in my sets. There is NO digital manipulation or use of photoshop.

Born in Los Angeles, I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley where my childhood passion of photography was rekindled.  I then attended Brooks Institute of Photography where I developed my talents in studio lighting and advertising photography while keenly interested in modern art and the history of photography.  While still in school I was included in a show at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

After five years in San Francisco I relocated to Denver, where I set up a commercial advertising studio specializing in still life (food, people and products).  During slow times in the studio I turned my attention to fine art and started exhibiting in local galleries.

I have been exhibited in galleries across the country and internationally. In 2000 I had the distinction of being honored with a retrospective, “Recurring Dream” at the International Photography Hall of Fame where I received rave reviews. I received an invitation to participate in the Florence Biennale in 2007.

Other exhibitions of note are Visions: Contemporary Colorado Photography at the Emmanuel Gallery at the University of Colorado at Denver in 1997, and  Invisible Dimensions: Art and Technology at the UMC Art Gallery at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1996.  And Botanica  at Republic Plaza Building in Denver in 2000.  Body and Soul in 1993 at the Highland Gallery features some large ‘’mudpoeple” prints.  Brooks Institute showed a solo exhibition of my work in 1989, in Santa Barbara. My work is in private and corporate collections and museums.