I was born in New England and grew up in the Midwest. My mother was a painter and my father, an amateur photographer. So I was encouraged to be creative.
I attended art school in New England where I majored in sculpture and photography. I studied there with the well known fine art photographers Sandy Skoglund and Jan Groover, and after graduation, moved to New York City. There I built a successful career as a commercial photographer and retoucher.
My work has been called surrealist, and I like that. As most of my visual ideas come to me in dreams or emerge from my subconscious as I am looking at a blank piece of paper. But there is a method to my madness.Every picture tells a story. And the story I wish to tell is the story of our common humanity. No matter where we came from or what we look like, we can see beauty, and possess love. I want my images to bring people together in a shared experience when they look at my photographs. After all, that’s why art exists. So we can become part of something greater than our individual selves as we look for the meaning of life. Both our individual and shared consciousness is expanded then, and we experience the emotion of beauty.
“What is great about your work is that it asks more questions than gives answers. It’s not a strident critique of anything…but an open mind.” Curator Jill Rupinsky
List of Exhibitions:
A.I.P. in NYC- January 2019
Callen-Lorde, NYC – November 2021
State of The Art Gallery – Ithaca, New York, Summer 2022
Cerulean Gallery – Philadelphia, Pa. Summer 2022 – Honorable Mention
Limner Gallery-Hudson, New York, Fall 2022
Art Center East Gallery-Hartford, Conn. January 2023
Artists Collective of Hyde Park, N.Y. , Summer 2023-won second prize for photos “Eve Asleep in The Forest” and “Dreams of Childhood”
Ridgefield Art Guild-Ridgefield, Conn. October 2023
Soho Photo Gallery, NYC_Summer 2024
Soho Photo Gallery, NYC_Fall, 2024
BELOW ARE 2 VIDEOS WHERE I TALK ABOUT MY WORK, AND A BOOK ABOUT MY ONE MAN SHOW IN NEW YORK:RUMINATIONS ON ADAM AND EVE:
https://rickschwabart.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Ruminations-on-Adam-and-Eve_The-Book.pdf
CLICK ON URL LINK ABOVE COVER IMAGE TO VIEW ENTIRE BOOK.
I create all the prints on the Epson 900 archival printer. It is the highest quality printer currently on the market. I use only the best acid free fine art papers. The Epson Ultrachrome Pro HD pigments used in the 900, were tested by Wilhelm Imaging. He found that the print, if properly displayed and/or stored can last hundreds of years, with up to 400 years, before beginning to fade. Each print is signed and numbered on the back.
