Robert Calafiore employs a hand-built pinhole camera to create large scale one-of-a-kind c-prints. The subject matter currently, a collection of ordinary glassware, is assembled by stacking, shelving and balancing pieces into a single tableau within a larger construction. It is then transformed by the unique recording characteristics of the camera's wide angle, the extended exposure, and the light sensitive paper's recording abilities. Calafiore manipulates the still life to control the results; altering the saturation, color, density and translucency of certain areas of the arrangement. His interest in process, traditional materials, and the reaction between light and chemistry, as well as the personal and universal stories told through every day objects, drives the work in his studio practice. Elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary...the every day to a magical place remains a primary motivator. No digital tools are ever used. Reflecting on the endless flood and speed of changing technology, Calafiore steps back and invests in prolonged experimentation, investigation and hands-on making that speak to a change in how we use our bodies, noting the change in the physical dexterity of younger generations and in the way we all see, interpret and react to the world around us, given the on-going digital revolution.

He received his MFA in Photography from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his BFA in Photography from Hartford Art School. Currently he lives and works in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions
2017
"Robert Calafiore and Joseph Minek", Gallery 1/1, Seattle, WA
"Focus Photo LA Top 20", Elizabeth Houston Gallery, NYC, NY"
"Portals", curated by juror Aline Smithson, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
"Ed Friedman Legacy Exhibition", curated by juror Hamidah Glasgow, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA
2016
"Lost and Found", curated by David Borawski, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
"The Tide is High", a group show curated by Jeff Mueller, Michael Levinson and Christopher Joy at the Governor's Island Art Fair, Governor's Island, New York Harbor, NY
"Glass Invitational", a two person show curated by Ann Welles, Exhibit A Gallery, Corning, NY
"Selected Artists", curated by Jeff Mueller, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, Chelsea, NY
"For the Love of Things; Still Life", curated by Godin-Spaulding, Albright Knox, Buffalo, NY
"Center Forward", curated by Aline Smithson and Hamidah Glasgow, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
"Thunder Umbrella" curated by Christopher Joy, Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT
2015
"Relics and Glass", curated by Debra Klomp and Darren Ching, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
"Art Today; 2000-Present", New Britain Museum of American Art, McKernan Gallery, New Britain, CT
"One, Unique Photographs", curated by Debra Klomp and Darren Ching, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
"New Works", curated by Jeffrey Mueller, Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT
"Objects and Ideas", Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
2014
"Art of the Northeast", curated by juror Andrew Russeth critic for New York Observer, 16 miles of String and Gallerist, Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT
"New Artist", Forre and Co. Gallery, Ft Lauderdale, FL
"Seeing Things, Seven Photogrpahers", Dehn Gallery, MCC on Main, Manchester, CT
2013
"Looking Through a Glass Darkly", Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
"New Artist", George Billis Gallery, during Art Basel: Miami Beach, Miami, FL
2012
"In Focus: Recent Acquisitions in Photography", New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
2011
"Plucking the Rainbow", curated by Ellen Carey, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
"Revealed by Reflection", curated by Chotsani Dean, Three Rivers Gallery, Three Rivers Community College, Norwich, CT
2009-2010
"Swimming Upstream", ArtSpace Gallery, Willimantic, CT
"Going Forward, Looking Back", curated by Stephen Halpert,
traveling exhibition to the following galleries:
Simmons College, Boston, MA and University of New England, Portland, ME and Maine Photographic Workshops, Rockport, ME and University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Dartmouth, MA

Other Exhibitions
"Toward 2000", curated by Laura Cloud, RISD Galleries, Providence, RI
"New Artists: Photography Outside Tradition"
traveling exhibition to the following galleries:
Currier Art Gallery, Manchester, NH and
Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery, Keene State College, Keene, NH
"New Worlds", Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT
"In Western New York", Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
"Unfettered Photographs: Stretching Definitions", curated by John Cusano, Carriage Barn Gallery, New Canaan, CT
"Self Portraits", curated by Sal Scalora, William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
"Modern Icons", curated by Mary Frey, Zone Art Center, Springfield, MA

Speaking Engagements
2016
Master of Ceremonies, Art Heist, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
Moderator, Artist Conversation: Robert Gregson, David Holzman, and Becky Rosen, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
2015
Artist Presentation, "New Work", hosted by SVA (School of Visual Arts, NYC) for NY Photo Salon
Artist Talk, "New", Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT
Artist Conversation and Panel, "Objects and Ideas", moderated by Power Boothe, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
2014
Artist Talk, "Art of the Northeast", Silvermine Galleries, New Canaan, CT
2013
Imagemaker Presentation, "Troubled by Beauty", Society for Photographic Education-Northeast Annual Conference, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME
Artist Talk, "Looking Through a Glass, Darkly", Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
2011
Artist Talk, "Revealed by Reflection" Three Rivers Gallery, Three Rivers Community College, Norwich, CT

Conferences and Portfolio Reviews
2017
Photolucida, Portalnd, Oregon
Month of Photography, Denver, CO
2016
ACP: Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Atlanta, GA

Curatorial Projects
2015
"Images", an exhibition of contemporary photography in Connecticut, co-curator, Guilford, CT
"Objects and Ideas", curated by Robert Calafiore, including Emily Cappa, Nathan Carris Carnes, Rafael D'Alo, Chotsani Elaine Dean, Rose DeSiano, Lucy Helton, Alex Kozachek, Scot MacCluggage, Rachael Wren and Robert Calafiore, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT

Selected Collections
New Britain Museum of American Art
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Private collections in FL, NY, MA, CT and more

Education
MFA, State University of New York at Buffalo
BFA, Hartford Art School