John Randolph Pepper is an American-Italian photographer known for his black-and-white photography which has been showcased in exhibitions worldwide. His career in theater and film has led him to write and direct plays and movies all around the globe.
Biography
Pepper was born in Rome, Italy, in 1958 to Curtis Bill Pepper, a war correspondent and the head of the Rome bureau for Newsweek magazine, and the sculptor Beverly Pepper. He has one sister, poet Jorie Graham. He was raised in Rome, Italy. He studied History of Art at Princeton University (1976) where he was also one of the original painting members of the '185 Nassau Street Painting Program' and was awarded the Whitney Painting Fellowship in 1975. In 1981 Pepper was admitted as a 'Directing Fellow' to the American Film Institute, Los Angeles.
Photography
Pepper began his career as an apprentice to Ugo Mulas who gave him his first formal training in the art of street photography.
Pepper pursued his work in photography (analog) for three decades while simultaneously directing in the theatre and in film. His show 'Rome: 1969 – An Hommage to Italian Neo-Realist Cinema' (USA/France 2008)[1][2] lead him back to his native Italy where Lanterna Magica Edizioni published the book Sans Papier (Italy 2011)[3] with subsequent exhibitions in Rome,[4][5][6][7][8] Venice, Saint Petersburg (Russia),[9] Paris, Palermo (Sicily).[10][11]
In 2012, the Manège Museum in Saint Petersburg, (Russia) showed Pepper's new work[12] which the Istituto Superiore Per la Storia della Fotografia (Italy) published as a new book of photographs in 2014 called 'Evaporations'[13] that previews at the Officina delle Zattere in Venice (Italy).
In March 2015, Pepper had a retrospective exhibit at the Showcase Gallery in Dubai (United Arab Emirates).[15]
The Italian Institute of Culture and The United States Mission in Russia sponsored a travelling exhibition (2015/2016) of Evaporations throughout Siberia, Russia (Vladivostok, Irkutsk,[16] Novosibirsk, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Samara and Moscow.[17][18][19]
From November 2016 to January 2017, Pepper's Evaporations / Испарения was shown in Rome, (Italy) at Fondazione Terzo Pilastro e Meditteraneo's, 'Museo Palazzo Cipolla'. The monumental exhibit consisted of 52 works ranging from 120 x160cm to 3m x 5m.[20][21][22]
In November 2017, Pepper inaugurated Inhabited Deserts at La Galerie du Palace in Paris.[23] This show is the first stop of a traveling exhibition (France, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Russia, Italy and USA) of new photographs where Pepper questions whether man's presence has inexorably altered the landscape or whether the land is in essence still close to what it was before mankind arrived. In September 2018 Inhabited Deserts was presented at the Aaran Gallery in Tehran;[24][25][26] then in November a selection of Inhabited Deserts was shown at Paris Photo 2019 with the Sophie Scheidecker Gallery before Pepper took the show to Tel Aviv at the 6th edition of the International festival Photo Is:Rael.[27][28] From 12 December 2018 to 15 February Inhabited Deserts was presented at The Empty Quarter Gallery in Dubai, U.A.E., with curatorial text by Kirill Petrin.[29][30][31][32][33] Subsequently, the show opened on 19 March 2019 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, at the Art of Foto Gallery[34][35] and shortly thereafter, on 18 April, it returned to Tel Aviv at the NOX Contemporary Gallery.[36] In 2020 Inhabited Deserts will be seen in the United States and Italy. In 2019, Pepper opened 'Rome 1969, An Homage to Italian Neo-Realism' at the RAW Streetphoto Gallery in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.[37][38][39]
In October 2020, Inhabited Deserts, opened in the city of Todi (PG), Italy, supported by 'Fondazione Art e Cultura'(Professor Emmanuele Emanuele, President),[40] the American Embassy in Rome and the city of Todi. The exhibition was preceded by a unique Peace Conference:'The Absent Border: Conflicts and New Harmonies', a unique Peace Conference, where an Iranian desert explorer sat and discoursed with an Israeli Archeologist, a Bedouin Sheikh, a Russian Curator, an American diplomat, an Italian Curator Gianluca Marziani, an American actor Giancarlo Esposito[41] and John R. Pepper.[42] The conference revolved how, through art and artists, countries and people in conflict, can create bridges of communication. Giancarlo Esposito, using one of Peppers desert photographs, created a drawing representing a new symbol for peace.[43]
In 2021, Inhabited Deserts was one of the main events of the 2nd Biennale di Senigallia curated by Serge Plantureux.[44] Also in 2021, Pepper participated in Bryansk International Photo Festival with 'Rome 1969 meets Sans Papier' photographs of Rome 40 years apart.[45][46] In 2022 with the support of the Italian Embassy in Tbilisi, Pepper presented 'Fragments of Italy 1970–2010', Kolga Tbilisi Photo (Tbilisi, Georgia).[47][48]
During 2023, Pepper exhibited 'Cleansing' at Matriusca Gallery (Seville, Spain) and, with the support of the Fondazione Terzo Pilastro/Fondazione Poema (Professor Emmanuele Emanuele, President) curated 'Curtis Bill Pepper, Un Viaggio in Sicilia 1959–1961' (Palazzo Albergati, Bologna, Italy).
Exhibitions
Rome 1969
Marianne Courteville Gallery (2007, New York City)
Galerie Photo4 (2008, Paris)
Galleria del Cortile (2009, Rome)
Art of Foto Gallery (2016, Saint Petersburg, Russia)[49]
Pepper was the first foreign director to be invited to the Drama Theatre on Vasilievsky (aka Teatre Satir) in Saint Petersburg, Russia. His Russian language, production of My Dear Mathilde by Israel Horovitz is now permanently in the repertoire (2012).[93] In 2016 Pepper opened a new production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea in Italy (Danny e il Profondo Blu) at Teatro Garibaldi in Palermo with Leonardo Sbragia e Laura Anzani[94] then in Milan[95] before going to Naples, Salerno, Rome and touring Italy. Also in 2016 he opened a production of Sam Shepard'sTrue West at Saint Petersburg Russian State Institute of Performing Arts.[96]
In 2018 Pepper directed the Italian premiere of John Patrick Shanley'sFour Dogs and a Bone with an adaptation by Enrico Vanzina. It debuted at the Teatro Vittorio Alfieri in Naso, Sicily and then moved to a successful run in Rome at the OFF/OFF Theatre.[97]
2016: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (By John Patrick Shanley, Original production, February 2016: Théâtre Garibaldi, Palermo, Italia)[116]
2016: True West (By Sam Shepard, Original production, May 2016, Théâtre Academy Drammatique Nationale de Russie, Saint Petersburg, Russia)[117][118][119]
2016: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (By John Patrick Shanley, Reprise: March 2016, Teatro Il Delfino, Milan, Italy)[120]
2017: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (By John Patrick Shanley, Reprise: April 2017, Teatro Sala Uno, Rome, Italy)
2017: Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (By John Patrick Shanley, Reprise: April 2017, Teatro Asoli, Naples, Italy)
2018: 4 Dogs and a Bone (By John Patrick Shanley, Reprise: February 2018, Teatro Alfieri, Naso, Italy)
2018: 4 Dogs and a Bone (By John Patrick Shanley, Reprise: March 2018, Teatro Off / Off, Rome, Italy)[121][122]
^Stasio, Marylin (8 January 1983). "Triple-threat Treat". New York Post.
^Gussow, Mel (13 February 1986). "Theatre: Cruelties of Mrs. Schnayd". The New York Times.
^Driscoll, Richard (23 July 1983). "Director maintains a madcap pace on Ithaca's summer stages". The Ithaca Journal.
^Thompson, Jay (26 May 1986). "Well Polished 'Voices' is Shining Success". The Evening Post. Charleston SC.
^Beaumont, Monique (28 February 2007). "La Retraite del Russie". L'Action Française.
^Libiot, Eric (1–7 March 2007). "La Retraite de Russie". L'Express (2904).
^Kuttner, Héléne (22–28 February 2007). "Divrorce á l'Anglaise". Paris Match (2904).
^Nerson, Jacques (8–14 February 2007). "L'amour de L'aube au Crépuscule". Le Nouvel Observateur (2205).
^Thomas, Bernard (14 February 2007). "La Berenzina". Le Canard Enchaîné.
^Ring, Lars (13 November 2005). "Multilayered Cultural Thriller". Svenska Dagbladet. Stockholm.
^Pascaud, Fabienne (2–8 November 2002). "Pour En Découdre". Télérama (2632).
^Dalbard, Agnés (28 September 2002). "Pour En Découdre: attention, couple en furie!". Le Parisien.
^"Avignon, Danny et la Grande Bleue". Telerama (2632). 25–30 June 2000.
^Jener, Jean Luc (19–25 April 2000). "A Ne Pas Manquer". Le Figaro (Scope).
^Dazhunts, Elvira (30 March 2012). "In Saint Petersburg With Excitement & Nervousness". Nievsky Times.
^Valdesi, G. (21 June 2016). "'Il Corpo a Corpo di Due Anime Perse' Trovato, Simonetta, Il Gironale di Sicilia". La Repubblica. 'Una Notte in un Bar del Bronx...'
^Mazucca Giancarlo. "ln Cerca d'Amore nel più Ruvido Bronx, 11-03-16". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"Vinogradova Polina". Nevskiy Teatral Magazine. June 2016.
