John Chervinsky
John Chervinsky is a self-taught photographer—he is also an engineer who works in the field of applied physics, and he spent eighteen years running a particle accelerator at Harvard University. It comes as no surprise then that his artistic practice is deeply informed by science as well as a strong inclination for exploration; for his collaborations with museums, Chervinsky uses accelerator technology in the analysis of art.
Chervinsky has said, “I am fascinated by the concept of time. I can measure it, account for it in an experiment in the lab, and live my life in it, but I still don’t know what it is, exactly.” His series Studio Physics thus addresses “the physical phenomena of still and moving objects in space over time” through multidimensional still life compositions, the product of an involved process for which the artist first creates and photographs a still life arrangement—of oranges scattered over a table, for instance. Chervinsky then sends a cropped section of the image to a painting factory in China where an anonymous artist executes a painting of the picture. Once Chervinsky receives the finished painting, he reinserts it into his setup, thereby completing this outsourcing, time-intensive process.
Chervinsky currently works for …
John Chervinsky is a self-taught photographer—he is also an engineer who works in the field of applied physics, and he spent eighteen years running a particle accelerator at Harvard University. It comes as no surprise then that his artistic practice is deeply informed by science as well as a strong inclination for exploration; for his collaborations with museums, Chervinsky uses accelerator technology in the analysis of art.
Chervinsky has said, “I am fascinated by the concept of time. I can measure it, account for it in an experiment in the lab, and live my life in it, but I still don’t know what it is, exactly.” His series Studio Physics thus addresses “the physical phenomena of still and moving objects in space over time” through multidimensional still life compositions, the product of an involved process for which the artist first creates and photographs a still life arrangement—of oranges scattered over a table, for instance. Chervinsky then sends a cropped section of the image to a painting factory in China where an anonymous artist executes a painting of the picture. Once Chervinsky receives the finished painting, he reinserts it into his setup, thereby completing this outsourcing, time-intensive process.
Chervinsky currently works for Harvard’s Rowland Institute. His art has been exhibited nationally including at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Art Gallery in Batavia, Illinois, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawwrence, among others. In 2012, Chervinsky participated in Light Work’s artist-in-residence program.
Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Harvard Business School Collection, Cambridge, MA
List Visual Art Center, Collection Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
Polaroid Collection, Waltham, MA
