Peter Liepke

Where It Began

"No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist" Oscar Wilde This homage to New York City is an evocative tribute to Peter Liepke's adopted home town, the urban metropolis he came to from his native Minnesota. This is not just another group of photographs of obvious NYC landmarks...

From the artist's latest series, begun in 2018 and ongoing, the "What Once Was" portfolio of images features platinum over pigment prints, hand signed and numbered by artist on re...

Large original, vintage, Ektacolor print collage Depicts art deco architectural facade of Publix building at Dade Boulevard and Alton Road in Miami Beach, Florida. Multiple prints formed into a collage mounted on a stretched canvas. Printed November 1989. Mounted December 1989. dated lower left. Includes protective canvas slip covering. Size: 81"H x 72"W (205.74 cm x 182.88 cm). Provenance: Bass Museum, Miami Beach, Florida This was exhibited at the Norton Museum in Palm Beach and Bears their exhibition label verso. Rafael Salazar (Cuban- American photographer) was born in Cuba in 1945 and has been a South Florida resident since 1965. He has photographed the development of the City of Miami as well as Miami’s budding art scene over the years. He is primarily known for his panoramic photographs and photo assemblage montages which have both a documentary quality to them but are full of enchantment and depth. Of great importance to him is the preservation on film of art works, especially those of a transitory nature, this has led him to photograph two of Christo and Jeanne-Claude projects; Miami’s Surrounded Islands and the Pont Neuf in Paris. He has also documented the works of Fernando García, Ed Ruscha, and Philip Johnson. His work draws inspiration from his love of the cosmos, spirituality, architecture, Eastern philosophy, and nature. He has been exhibiting his fine art both nationally and internationally for many years. Salazar’s images have earned him a reputation as an innovative and sensitive artist. He has close ties with the Miami-Dade Public Library System and photographed much of the development of Main Library as well as the early exhibitions and events held there. He photographed the library’s Artmobile, painted by New York Realist artist Lowell Nesbitt, an art gallery on wheels decorated with zebra patterns and native flowers that was in service from 1976 until 1992. He also documented the Grand Opening Celebration of the Metro-Dade Cultural Center held in 1986. Since its 1970 start, the Permanent Art Collection has been recognized nationally as a fearless reflection of Miami’s diversity, and an invaluable chronicle of its artistic and social history. Their collection includes Elizabeth Catlett, Purvis Young and Emilio Sanchez. "Fact and Fiction: The State of Florida Photography...

This photograph is representative of two related series of mine that deal with humanity's impact on and relationship with the earth. This relationship is not sustainable. Lately, I have begun to dream of our tortured earth with the remains of our hubris drifting through space, mined to extinction. This work is an attempt to tear through the ugliness of the world we have made, through the blindness of our voracious appetite to the vastness beyond, where beauty cares not for our perception of it. As Robinson Jeffers wrote: “The beauty of things was born before eyes and sufficient to itself; the heartbreaking beauty/ Will remain when there is no heart to break for it.” -- William Lesch