25 YEARS OF POLAROIDS - 2019

25 Years of Polaroids showcases Picayo's most iconic work. This exhibit includes personal photographs of Cuba from 1994, Polaroid image transfers showcasing his impressive use of visual texture and his eye for fashion. Also included are his Atget-esque tree portraits from a New Jersey public arboretum in 2012. Additionally, a selection of 8” x 10” Polaroids from Mugshots 2008, will be included, exploring how a person's soul can be captured in what appear to be basic photographs. The main questions at the heart of Picayo's photography stem from the mystery of human perception and the precious things that are lost to time.

JOSÉ PICAYO - 2015

In his new body of work, José Picayo explores the mystery of human perception and interaction. This exhibit is comprised of haunting paired portraits, one photograph of the back of a model’s head and another of the front. It’s human nature to see an incomplete image and mentally complete it, jumping to calculated assumptions based on previous experience. Picayo relates these photographs to his own experience walking in the streets of the city, imagining the front of the strangers he walks behind.

José Picayo 2015Robin RiceSeptember 15, 2015José Picayo, 25th Year Anniversary

JOSÉ PICAYO - 2012

This photo exploration of exquisite, 100-plus-year-old specimens of trees found in a New Jersey public arboretum is a follow-up study of the artist's 2004 exhibition of Florida palms. Intended to isolate and showcase trees, the exhibit presents José's interpretation of what is simple and uncomplicated about his subjects while also revealing them swathed in stand-alone beauty alongside a tangle of roots and branches.

José Picayo 2012Robin RiceSeptember 19, 2012José Picayo New Work, black & white, tropical

MUG SHOTS - 2008

In an age of artificial beauty,” photographer Jose Picayo explains, "where absolute perfection has become society’s standard, we are often disheartened by the reality of our own flawed reflections in the mirror.” With his newest series, Picayo seeks to revive the concept of pure and unadulterated beauty, spontaneously captured.