Robert Stivers

Robert Stivers is an American photographer born 1953 in Palo Alto, California. Although a 1976 BA graduate from University of California Irvine, and a 1981 MA graduate from New York University, Stivers only begun to pursue photography in 1988 after a severe injury forced him to retire from his career as a professional dancer. His photographs feature haunting dreamlike imagery where objects tend to hover and pose or be caught in mid-gesture, reflecting his history as a dancer and choreographer. Stivers’ meticulous practice involves printing photos on matte paper and toning or manipulating his images by hand in the darkroom. Stivers' technique utilizes out of focus imagery, vignettes, and motion blur intentionally applied to typically crisp negatives. These stylistic elements are not photographic mistakes, but rather calculated manipulations that allow Stivers to create conceptual narratives within his photographs.

Since his first solo exhibition in 1990, Stivers has exhibited work extensively in the United States and Europe. His photographs are included in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and such museums as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles; the Brooklyn Museum; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Submitted by Modernism Inc.