The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2024 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Larry Kasperek
Pixellarry LLCBay Village OH 44140 United States Home Phone: 2164969100 Birthday: April 25, 1952 Website: Pixellarry
Bio
Larry Kasperek
(b. 1952 – )
Originally from Western New York, Larry attended the University of Missouri, graduating with a degree in Photojournalism. That led to a 25-year career in newspapers, working in New Jersey, Mississippi and Iowa as a photographer, then Michigan, Southern California and Alabama as a picture editor and director of photography.
In 2000 he moved to Cleveland to partner in a commercial photography business. Gradually he started moving into “art” photography. He now operates independently.
Larry photographs in a variety of styles, but his work now is primarily film-based. His images are straightforward, striving to tell a story in pictures. Over the years he has expanded into historic preservation and digital restoration of images. His photographs often reflect an interest in history, and the passage of time.
Education
Bachelor of Journalism, 1974, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Work History
2014 – Present – Self-employed, Pixellarry LLC
2001 – 2014 – Partner, Fuchs and Kasperek Photography, Cleveland, OH
1987 – 2000 – Director of Photography, Birmingham Post-Herald, Birmingham, AL
1984 – 1987 – Picture Editor, Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA
1981 – 1984 – Picture Editor, Flint Journal, Flint, MI
1976 – 1980 – Staff Photographer, Clarion Ledger, Jackson, MS
1974 – 1976 – Photographer, Sentinel Newspapers, East Brunswick, NJ
1974 Summer intern on photography staff, Des Moines Register, Des Moines, IA
Exhibitions and Competitions
2021 – Zanesville Museum of Art – 75th Ohio Annual Exhibition
2021 – Cleveland Photothon – Selected artist to participate in “I Identify As” exhibition
2021,2017, 2015, 2014 – Annual Juried Show, BAYarts, Bay Village, OH – 2018 Directors Award,
2020, 2018, 2017 – Peer Show, Cleveland Print Room, “Best Black and White photo in 2018”
2020, 2017, 2014 – Artists Archive of the Western Reserve – Western Reserve Open Competition (juried)
2017 – Ohio State Fair juried art show
2021,2017, 2015, 2014 – Annual Juried Show, BAYarts, Bay Village, OH
2014 – “Focus, Form and Frame,” Trio show at the Audrey and Harvey Feinberg Gallery at Cain Park, Cleveland Heights, OH
2013 – “Burning River City,” Doubting Thomas Gallery, Tremont. Group show.
2013 – American Battlefield Trust Annual Photography Contest, “Then and Now” Category, First Place
2012, 2011 – “Art in the Park,” Cain Park Arts Festival, Cleveland, Heights, OH
2011 – Boston Mills Arts Festival, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, OH
2011 – True North Cultural Arts Gallery at the French Creek Nature and Art Center. Solo exhibition.
2011 – “Cleveland from an Oatmeal Box,” a pinhole photography competition sponsored by the Dunham Tavern Museum, Cleveland – Best of Show award
2011 – “Art by the Falls” juried art festival, Chagrin Falls, OH, First Place for Photography
2011 – “Summer” show at BAYarts, Bay Village, OH, for teaching faculty
2009 – Award Artist for the 2010 Ohio Arts Council Governor’s Awards. Each recipient received a framed 16 x 20 photograph of my pinhole camera work.
2009 – Red Dot Project group show at University Hospitals, Cleveland
2008, 2006 – Jurors award, juried photography show, BAYarts, Bay Village, OH – Jurors Award 2008, First Place 2006
2007 – Selected images from the International Pinhole Photography Day – Montclair Public Library, Montclair, N.J.
2006 – Humphrey Gallery at University Hospitals, Cleveland – Duo exhibition titled “What We Saw”
Collections
First Energy
The Cleveland Clinic
Glidden House
University Hospitals
Mariott Hotels
Equity Trust
Cleveland State University
The Chubb Group
Southwest General Hospital
Oswald Companies
Baker-Hostetler
Rockwell Automation
Constellation Schools
Burton Carol Management
Cohen & Company
Waxman Industries
Cuyahoga County Administration Building
Other
Photography instructor at BAYarts, Bay Village, OH, 2011 – 2017
Featured in a segment of “Applause” on WVIZ television on my pinhole photography, Cleveland, 2012.
Member of The Center for Civil War Photography (Board member), The American Battlefield Trust
Member, The Cleveland Print Room, BAYarts, Heights Arts, Artists Archive of the Western Reserve
Artist Statement
My best work is made on film. It’s how I learned to see pictures. So, having reached the point where I no longer depend on meeting the digital demands of clients for a living, I’ve returned to what I love.
The photographic industry was forced to move to digital. Once the quality from digital cameras approached that of film, clients demanded it. Digital images began to look artificial me, especially with the wide range of post-processing options that could be applied and could make an average photo look stellar. And that became the norm. I concede that it offered a wide array of post-production tools to create beautiful but unreal images.
An old professor I had coined the phrase “show truth with a camera.” I strive to do that. And that bucks the trend of modern art photography, now valued more for the creative use of media and presentation over showing reality.
I began as a hobbyist about age nine. Since then I’ve been a photojournalist, picture editor, studio and commercial photographer. A few years ago, when I “retired,” I began to concentrate on “art.” But having been educated in the strict journalism definition of photography, it became a challenge to move beyond literal translation of life through images. So, I referred back to the “documentary” style, leaning on the aesthetic value. To me, film represents a truer interpretation of what I see and a more complete tonal range than digital.
Visually, I tend to bounce around, looking for the best tools to tell stories. My work ranges from street photography, documentary portraits and candid images, showing the passage of time, abstract images found in life and just whatever catches my eye. I currently work in medium format and 35mm film cameras, pinhole cameras, vintage cameras, digital cameras, and my iPhone. I sometimes photograph in color, but prefer black and white.