Josh Azzarella

Josh Azzarella (born 1978, Ohio) is an artist based in New York, New York. He is represented by Mark Moore Gallery in Culver City.

Education

BFA, Myers School of Art, The University of Akron
MFA, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University

Photography

Azzarella's work reflects on pivotal moments in history such as the torture of Iraqi POWs in Abu Ghraib and the protest of a single man in Tienanmen Square against a column of tanks. Azzarella reworks these canonical images to omit the tragic, negative, or most disturbing aspect of these images. For example, a photograph of a smiling Lynndie England pointing to a prisoner forced to masturbate is altered to only contain the smiling soldier. His photographs muddy the waters between the artificial beauty of a cinematic set and the inherent beauty of the natural landscape. Absent their most significant events, Azzarella’s images raise questions about how our society constructs a narrative of our collective history.

Video