Tony Fouhse, Photo ‘My Motel Room, Ohio’ 2004
Tony Fouhse, ‘My Motel Room, Ohio’, 2004, A/P (Artist Proof) Photograph, Image: 11.75 x 12 inches. Paper: 13.5 x 13 inches. Titled & dated lower left. Initials lower right. Gift from the artist.
USD$600
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Tony is a photographer based in Ottawa, Canada. His work has attracted international attention and been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The British Journal of Photography, American Photography 26, CV Photo, Time magazine and Vie des Arts. His photographs have been exhibited internationally, most recently at the Noorderlicht International Fotofestival in Groningen, The Netherlands (2019); Cortona On The Move photo festival, Italy and, as part of the Beyond Addiction/Reframing Recovery exhibition, in NYC and Rochester, N.Y. (2020).
Images from his personal projects have been acquired by institutional collections including The National Photo Collection of Belgium (on permanent display); the Art Collection of Global Affairs, Canada; the Ottawa Art Gallery Collection; the National Photo Collection, Canada and the Archives of Ontario. Three of his projects have been published as photobooks: Live Through This (2012, ed. 400, sold out), Official Ottawa (2015, ed. 2000, sold out) and After the Fact (2018, ed. 200, sold out).
His awards include a National Magazine Award and the Karsh Award for Photography. He has received arts grants from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council and City of Ottawa.
Fouhse is an editorial and commercial photographer. He also spends a lot of time and emotion photographing personal projects. He has been nominated 3 times for the National Magazine Awards (and won once). His personal projects have attracted international attention and been published around the world. As well, images from his personal work have been aquired by institutional collections including The National Photo Collection of Belgium (on permanent display), the Art Collection of Global Affairs, Canada and the Ottawa Art Gallery Collection. In 2010 he was awarded The Karsh Award for Photography. Every day Fouhse finds himself in a different situation. Different circumstances. No matter, he always throws himself into the experience.
Photos come out of this process.
Convincing. Vigorous. Keen. Uncanny.
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USER Statement:
“There’s a corner in Ottawa where anarchy reigns. The people who inhabit that corner aren’t terrorists. They don’t blow stuff up nor do they want to overthrow any system or government. Mostly they just want to be left alone to fight their pain. Their weapon of choice is crack cocaine; the battleground is their bodies and their spirit. Crack addicts.
In 2007 I began going to this corner over and over again, obsessed. Obsessed with documenting the feel and the face of this small society. I worked with a camera and the cooperation and acceptance of the addicts I was photographing. They know me, I know them. We have an understanding. The work I’m doing there feels like collaboration. Some have said I’m collaborating with the enemy. They say that the addicts on that corner should be swept away. Of course, where they’ll go, how they’ll be treated is left unsaid. Addiction has always been with us, always will be. Lip service and knee-jerks count for nothing.
I don’t go down to that corner to fight for or against the addicts, I’m not there to judge. I’m there as an observer, one who has a point of view and the means to express that point of view. The casual passerby will see ugliness and conflict and degradation on that corner. Those all exist there, as they do on other corners, in other places.
But there are other emotions and dynamics to be seen there, too. I see community and fellowship, I see street mothers looking after the young women. I see one kind of pain being replaced with another kind of pain, one that is somehow – we can’t even begin to imagine – more acceptable to the addict. I see creativity, friendship and humanity. I see humans”. – Tony Fouhse, 2012
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BORN: Ottawa, 1954
EDUCATION: Hillcrest High School
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013
LIVE THROUGH THIS, Carleton University Art gallery, Ottawa
LIVE THROUGH THIS, ViewPoint Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
2012
ANGELENOS, La Petite Mort Gallery, Ottawa
2011
USER 2010, La Petite Mort Gallery, Ottawa
2010
I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I, Karsh Masson Gallery, Ottawa
AMERICAN STATES, Exposure Gallery, Ottawa
USER, Pikto Gallery, Toronto (featured CONTACT exhibition)
USER 2010, La Petite Mort Gallery, Ottawa
2009
APRIL + ERIK , Gallery La Petite Mort, Ottawa
USER, IPS Gallery, Montreal
2008
BESIDE THE PASSAIC, La Petite Mort Gallery, Ottawa
2006
THERE, Gallery 101, Ottawa
2004
CALIFORNIA, Galerie La Bouchon, Paris
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SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
CRITICAL MASS (touring), Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia and The
Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, Florida
HEART of the MOMENT: works from the permanent collection, Ottawa Art Gallery
APPLIED, Exposure Gallery, Ottawa
2012
THE PRESENT, Oz Studio, Toronto
CLOSE TO HOME, recent acquisitions, City Hall Art Gallery, Ottawa
2011
HUMANKIND, Powerhouse Gallery, Brooklyn, N.Y.
PLACE AND CIRCUMSTANCE, City Hall Art Gallery, Ottawa
2010
NUDES, Abnorma Gallery, Poznan, Poland
EVOCATIVE OBJECTS, The Bytown Museum, Ottawa
2009
SNAP ’09, The Edward Day Gallery, Toronto
2008
EVIDENCE, City Hall Art Gallery, Ottawa
HOLGAWORLD, PhotoMedia Center, Erie, Pennsylvania
2004
THE WORLD, Angel City Gallery, Los Angeles
ROCK THE VOTE, SAW Gallery, Ottawa
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BOOKS
LIVE THROUGH THIS, published 2012 by STRAYLIGHT Press
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COLLECTIONS
The National Photo Collection, Belgium (2 USER images on display)
Canada Council Art Bank
City of Ottawa Art Collection
The Ottawa Art Gallery Collection
Archives of Ontario
The National Photo Collection, Canada
Private collections
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PUBLISHED (Features)
American Photography magazine, October 2013 (Live Through This)
TIME Magazine, LightBox, July 30, 2013 (Live Through This)
New York Times LENS blog, June 11, 2013 (Official Ottawa)
American Photography 28, 2012
British Journal of Photography, November, 2011 (article on collaborative portraits, LIVE THROUGH THIS)
Esquire Magazine (Russia), November, 2011 (15 USER photos)
CV PHOTO, SUMMER, 2011 (10 page spread on USER)
American Photography 27 (2011)
American Photography 26 (2010)
The New York Times (USER, July 22, 2009)
Fade, The Netherlands (2009)
Vie des Arts (2008)
Newsweek Japan, 2008 (6 page spread on USER)
LifeLounge, Australia, 2008 (6 page spread on USER)
Carte Blanche, Magenta Foundation for the Arts, 2006
Many newspaper articles and reviews.
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GRANTS
Canada Council Travel Grant (2013)
OAC Exhibition Grants (2010, 2009, 2013)
City of Ottawa Arts Grant (2010, 2012)
Recipient of THE KARSH AWARD for PHOTOGRAPHY, 2010
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SOME LINKS
New York Times: Official Ottawa
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/official-ottawa-an-unofficial-portrait/
TIME magazine: Live Through This
http://lightbox.time.com/2013/07/30/live-through-this-documenting-one-womans-struggle-with-heroin
New York Times: USER
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/showcase-25/
LPV magazine: Live Through This
http://lpvmagazine.com/2013/04/live-through-this-by-tony-fouhse-stephanie-macdonald/
CV Photo (précis of feature on USER)
http://cielvariable.ca/recent/88/88fouhse.htm
Ottawa Citizen: USER
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2011/09/23/tony-fouhse-hangs-user-one-final-time/
Ottawa Citizen: Karsh Award
http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2010/09/18/portraits-of-tony-fouhse/