BIOGRAPHY & EXHIBITION LIST
Born in Buffalo and raised in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Richard Serviss studied photography at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where he received a Merrill-Milai-Stanley Scholarship Award. During his education, he realized his interest leaned towards documentary and fine-art photography as opposed to the commercial studio photography the school emphasized. As a result, upon graduation, he took on a series of jobs to support his photographic interests.
During his early years, he worked primarily as a darkroom printer and E6 lab-tech. Eventually, he sought to learn the photographic publishing business and found work as a photo researcher. He soon moved into various photo editorial positions within publishing. His work history includes photo researcher and photo editor for several renowned photo agencies such as the Black Star Picture Agency, Saba Press and Sygma-Corbis. At one time these photo agencies provided much of the photo content for many of the world’s leading news and feature-based magazines.
For nearly two decades he worked as a senior photo editor at Scholastic Inc. During this time, he worked on a variety of magazines including Scholastic's New York Times Upfront, Junior Scholastic, Choices Magazine and the various editions of Scholastic News Magazine. He also spent years doing video research for the company’s online video productions. Since leaving Scholastic, he spends his time photographing New York’s natural spaces.
Richard’s early interest was street photography where he was influenced by the work of WPA photographers of the 1930’s, New York School photographers of the 1950's as well the social consciousness photojournalism of the 1960’s. Common themes in his early work were urban decay and human isolation, set primarily in Pittsburgh and New York City. In time, his interest shifted to the urban landscape.
Richard often claims New York City initially instilled his a love of nature. Living in the Inwood neighborhood of northern Manhattan in the early 2000’s, he was amazed to discover the neighborhood’s park contained the last strands of Manhattan’s old growth forest. Fascinated that a patch of old growth forest survived centuries of urban development, he set out to photograph the remnants of city’s forests. In a few years he expanded the nature theme to include the entire State of New York. Richard sees these New York based landscape studies as a lifelong projects.
Richard lives in New York City with his wife Frances and their cats Rosie and Mickey.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
MICHAEL INGBAR GALLERY
568 Broadway New York, NY
"It's About Real Estate"
Group Exhibition
May 20 - September 30, 2006
Exhibited photos from the "Visions of New York" project.
Also, non-exclusive gallery representation for selected "Visions of New York" prints, a series of darkroom manipulated & hand colored urban landscape photos - 1997 through 2012.
WARD-NASSE GALLERY
178 Prince St. New York, NY
"Metro Art"
Group Exhibition
March 26 - April 17, 1999
Exhibited work from the "Flowers in the City" photo project. "Flowers in the CIty" was series of gritty black & white urban landscapes where the flowers were hand tinted with oil colors. Also, served as a curator and sat on the Board of Directors of this artists run co-op gallery from 1997-2006.
MICHAEL INGBAR GALLERY
568 Broadway New York, NY
"Splendor in the Grass: Central Park"
Group Exhibition
September 10 - October 31, 1998
Exhibited darkroom manipulated & hand colored prints from the "Visions of New York" photo series.
MICHAEL INGBAR GALLERY
568 Broadway New York, NY
"1898 and Still Standing - Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Consolidation of Greater New York"
Group Exhibition
June 11 - August 29, 1998
Exhibited darkroom manipulated & hand colored prints from the "Visions of New York" photo series.
WARD NASSE GALLERY
178 Prince St. New York, NY
"City Vibes: With A Touch of Graffiti"
Group Exhibition
September 4 - 28, 1996
Curated and exhibited in group exhibition that focused on urban themes. Exhibited work from the "Flowers in the City" photo project.
AGORA GALLERY
560 Broadway New York, NY
"Real/Ethereal"
Group Exhibition
June 1 - 26, 1996
Exhibited darkroom manipulated & hand colored prints from the "Visions of New York" photo series.
WARD NASSE GALLERY
178 Prince Street New York, NY
"Landscape/Dreamscape"
Group Exhibition
Late Winter 1996
Exhibited large scale photos (30x40") from the "Coney Island at Dawn" series.
WARD NASSE GALLERY
178 Prince St. New York, NY
"The Creature Feature"
Group Exhibition
January 4 - 28, 1996
Exhibited photos from the "Downtown Dogs and Other Stupid Animals Pictures" project.
WARD-NASSE GALLERY
178 Prince St. New York, NY
"International Salon '95"
Group Exhibition
Exhibited darkroom manipulated & hand colored prints from the "Visions of New York" photo series
June 10 - August 12, 1995
PROVINCETOWN ART ASSOCIATION & MUSEUM
460 Commercial St. Provincetown, MA
"Exhibition of Competition Finalists"
Group Exhibition
May 12, 1995 - June 7, 1995
Exhibited darkroom manipulated & hand colored prints from the "Visions of New York" photo series.
IMAGES GALLERY
3154 Markway Drive Toledo, OH
Toledo Friends of Photography "National Juried Photography Exhibition" - Curated by Peter MacGill
Group Exhibition
October 5 - 31, 1991
Exhibited street photography work.
YERGEAU - MUSEE INTERNATIONAL D'ART
Montreal, Quebec
Exhibited street photography work. Print (A Downtown Frankenstein, NYC") acquired for permanent collection.
1991
HELIO GALLERIES
588 Broadway New York, NY
"International Photography Exhibition"
Group Exhibition
January 8 - 26, 1991
Exhibited street photography work.
CHATTAGRAM PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
Chittagong, Bangladesh
"1st International Photo Contest"
Group Exhibition
March 1990
Exhibited street photography work.
ACADEMY OF ARTS
106 South Street Easton, MD
"26th Annual National Juried Exhibition" - Curated by Dorsey Waxter/Director of Andre Emmerich Gallery/NYC
March 30 - April 28, 1990
Group Exhibition
Exhibited street photography work.
ART CENTER GALLERY
Central Missouri State University
217 Clark St. Warrensburg, MO
"Greater Midwest International V"
Group Exhibition
January 16 - February 16, 1990
Exhibited street photography work.
ZONE ART CENTER
Springfield, MA
"Zone Photography Show" - Curated by Bill Burke
Group Exhibition
November 12 - January 7, 1989
Exhibited street photography work.
VELAR GALLERY
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA
"Memory"
Group Exhibition
February 2 - 24, 1986
Exhibited street photography work.
THREE RIVERS ART FESTIVAL
Art Institute of Pittsburgh Gallery
"1984 Three Rivers Arts Festival Photography Exhibition" - Curated by Lee Witkin
Award Winner/Honorable Mention
Group Exhibition
Summer 1984
Exhibited street photography work.
F-STOP GALLERY
Wood St. Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Group show put together by Art Institute of Pittsburgh photography students
1980
Exhibited street photography work.