CHRONICLES: The Photography of Ray Carofano
May 2 – July 5, 2025
Artist Reception: Saturday, June 7, 6 – 9 pm
Curated by friend and artist Ron Linden, this long-awaited exhibition charts the career of revered San Pedro artist Ray Carofano by showcasing works in a variety of his photographic suites. From the painterly rendered riverrun views of the Los Angeles River, to his hauntingly decaying landscapes in Broken Dreams, Carofano takes us on a not-so-sentimental journey, guided by a discerning eye and keen aesthetic. Whether the subject is abandoned and forgotten or functioning in isolation, these images trace society’s impact on open space like punctuation marks on a blank page.
Slab Dwellers and Faces of Pedro reveal this singular photographer’s deep love of humanity and commitment to building community through his art. In these two suites, Carofano turns his unflinching lens on an eccentric community of desert outsiders as well as locals in his own backyard, all of them becoming characters in a complex narrative that both reveals and expands the margins of society.
Born 1942 in New Haven, Connecticut, Carofano studied at Quinnipiac College, Southern Connecticut State College and Paier School of Art. Largely self-taught, his passion for photography began at an early age when his parents gifted him a complete set of The Encyclopedia of Photography.
Ray Carofano’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; University of Texas, Gernsheim Collection, Austin, TX; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA; Galera de Arde Fotografo, San Miguel Allende, MX; Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba, and many private and corporate collections here and abroad.
