PHILIP PARITSKY
American photographer Philip Paritsky’s photographs don such piercing saturation and eye-catching alignment that viewers are easily lulled to a state of awe. A vibrant blue building accented by hints of greenery stemming from a barren parking lot; a staircase to the unknown in a setting of immense exposure and yellow architectural accents; a candy-apple red and bumblebee yellow set of complexes sit adjoined and framed by a cobalt blue sky: these are just several of the examples of the artist’s magnetic archival pigment prints. Paritsky’s grandfather gifted him his first camera, a Kodak Hawkeye, when he was 11. The camera was bought with an assortment of coupons collected overtime from the packs of Chesterfield cigarettes. In the sixth grade, the beginner photographer took the camera on a class trip to Lincoln Center and photographed the exterior. Around fifty years later, he replicated that image after his passion for the artform was reaffirmed in 2016.
Originally from New York City, the artist now resides in Kingston, Pennsylvania. In the past, he worked in commercial photography and public accounting; he eventually retired after years as a chief financial officer. Paritsky is an alum of the Fashion Institute of Technology (A.A.A.), School of Visual Arts (B.F.A.), Queens College (B.A.), Wilkes University (M.B.A), and Abraham Lincoln Law School, (M.B.A.). He has published two books featuring collections of his art, and has exhibited at numerous galleries such as the Cultural Center of Palm Beach County in 2019 (solo) and the Museum of Modern Art at P.S.1 in 1978 (group).
PHILIP PARITSKY ON
I have been photographing the east coast of America for over five decades. My grandfather gave me my first camera for a sixth-grade field trip to Lincoln Center, by redeeming coupons he accumulated from packs of Chesterfield cigarettes. After working in the advertising world of Madison Avenue for years, I returned to my original passion: street photography. I shoot extemporaneously in fast succession, as I walk, drive, or sit in the back of a taxi. When I am out there taking pictures, I never know what image will catch my eye and where. I just capture beauty when I see it, whether hidden in a flower, a stretch of sidewalk, or a discarded object lying in the street.
