About Walter Plotnick

Mr. Plotnick is a USA photo-based artist who lives and works in the Philadelphia, PA area. He received his MFA from University of the Arts and BFA from Tyler School of Art. Mr. Plotnick is a Senior Lecturer in the Fine Arts Department at Penn State University/Abington.  

Artist Statement

My photographic collages serve as a metaphor for anticipation, those moments when the unknown is being revealed.  

The implied act of opening the boxes, releases the occupants, allowing them to take flight. The people and objects confined within, through the simple act of unfolding, are exposed revealing what was previously hidden. 

I try to convey excitement, and energy in images that are playful, expressive, and nostalgically bring the viewer back to the joyful moments of anticipation felt in childhood.  

The sense of nostalgia evoked in the graphic synthesis of these images is augmented using a wash of warm sepia tones that permeate the images. There is also a visual correlation between inhabitants of the boxes and the boxes themselves. The folds of the boxes having a quality not unlike origami, is reflected in the contortionist-like bending of the human forms within. 

The unusual and dissimilar combination of people and cardboard boxes is visually unified through the repetition of angles. Despite pairing such disparate elements, I bring them together harmoniously to form images with visual impact, and are frankly, fun to look at. 

Website: www.walterplotnick.com

New Brunswick Art Salon 2025 – Photography: “Beyond the Image: Unveiling Hidden Narratives”

Publications

  • EyeMazing Editions Annual Pictorial Book, Amsterdam
  • Musee Magazine, No. 7 Vol. 1Andrea Blanch, New York
  • Adobe Master Class Photoshop Textbook
  • Untapped Cities, Arts + Culture, New York, Michelle Young
  • Curbed New York, Online, Hana Alberts
  • Odcloneno, The Best Photo, Online Czech Republic
  • Danuta Antas, Photography Artwork, Poland
  • Chevaugeon Photography Blog, United Kingdom
  • Lens/Scratch Magazine, Aline Smithson, Chicago
  • HAHA Magazine, Ginger Rudolph ,Philadelphia
  • Candid Frame, Podcast

Solo Exhibitions

  • Leap of Faith Exhibition, Temple Judea Museum, Philadelphia, PA
  • Museum of Photography, Poland (June 2015)
  • Galerie Talent Voor Kunst, Belgium
  • ArtsQuest, InVision, Bethlehem, PA
  • Kol Ami Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
  • Saint Joseph’s University Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
  • Shadows and Shapes, Multiple Choice Gallery, Blue Bell, PA

Exhibitions + Publications

  • 2023 Center for Fine Art Photography, Revisiting the Family Album
  • 2023 Woodmere Museum 81st Exhibition
  • 2023 Kite Prize, Contemporary Art, Merit Award
  • 2023 Lensculture, Critics Choice
  • 2023 SE Center for Photography, Juror’s Choice, Open
  • 2022 Soho Photo Gallery, APA Exhibition, NYC
  • 2022 Tokyo International Foto Awards Official Selection
  • 2022 Boomer Gallery, London UK
  • 2022 Delaplaine Arts, Focus Exhibition, Maryland
  • 2022 Fraction Magazine(issue 161) Top 10 of 50
  • 2022 Center for Fine Art Photography, (un) Natural Cycles
  • 2022 Art of the State, PA State Museum, Harrisburg, PA
  • 2022 State Museum of Pennsylvania, Art of the State
  • 2022 Featured Six Pages, Gente di Fotogrfia, Magazine Italy
  • 2022 Featured 10 Pages, Musee Magazine, New York
  • 2021 Published in Le Monde, Diplomatique, Paris France
  • 2021 Flag Project, Displayed Rockefeller Center, Aperture Foundation, New York
  • 2021 Represented by Photo-Eye Gallery Santa Fe New Mexico
  • 2021 Interviewed by Michael Kirchoff for Catalyst Interviews
  • 2021 F-STOP Magazine–The Constructed Image
  • 2021 SE Center of Photography Shades of B+W
  • 2020 Photolucida, Critical Mass Top 502020 PX3 Le Prix de la Photographie Paris Bronze Medal
  • 2020 15th Julia Margaret Cameron Award, Honorable Mention
  • 2020 Gold Award San Francisco Bay International Photography Competition
  • 2020 New York Center For Photographic Art, 1st Place Award
  • 2020 Center For Fine Art Photography, Portfolio ShowCase 13
  • 2019 PX3 Le Prix de la Photographie Paris Bronze Medal
  • 2019 Lensculture, Aperture Gallery New York
  • 2012 F1rst Choice Exhibition, Netherlands
  • 2011 Symbiose Art Exhibition Breda Netherlands
  • 2010 Texas Photographic Society, #19 International Photography Exhibition, San Antonio, TX
  • 2010 PhotoPlace Gallery, Open, International Photography Exhibition, Middlebury, VT
  • 2010 Fraser Gallery, 9thInternational Photography Exhibition Bethesda, MD
  • 2009 United Creators, New York, Germany, Turkey
  • 2009 Radius 250, Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA
  • 2009 Sky’s the Limit, Creative Arts Workshop New Haven, CT
  • 2008 Griffin Museum of Photography, 14thAnnual Exhibition, Winchester, MA
  • 2008 Abington Art Center, Annual Juried Exhibition, Abington, PA
  • 2007 Fleisher Wind Challenge, Samuel Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2007 PHOTO-IMAGE 07, Nexus Foundation Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2006 67thJuried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2006 Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA2006 The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2006 Charles Addams Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2006 Woodland Gallery, Penn State, Abington, PA
  • 2005 Anderson Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2004 Hamilton Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2002 – 2004 Multiple Choice Gallery, Blue Bell, PA