Robert Mann Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Chip Hooper entitled New Zealand’s South Pacific and Tasman Sea from March 29 to May 12, 2007. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Thursday, March 29 (6-8pm). A catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

New Zealand’s South Pacific and Tasman Sea is the newest chapter in Chip Hooper’s ongoing series of ocean photographs. The first installment, California’s Pacific, was exhibited at Robert Mann Gallery in 2004. In recent years, Hooper’s travels have taken him to the rugged shores of New Zealand. He continues to perfect his approach to photographing the ocean, steadily refining his sense of lyrical minimalism, as in Toward Dunedin, South Pacific, 2003, where a horizon of dark water is broken by the low, jagged line of distant mountains, or in Cape Foulwind Beach, Tasman Sea, 2003, where a monolithic cliff rises beyond the frame.

Chip Hooper has matched – and arguably surpassed – the technical precision of the early masters of landscape photography whose work inspired him years ago. Hooper’s pristine silver prints convey his unique contemporary vision of natural beauty – he captures the vast solitude and quiet spirituality of the ocean as few artists have before him. These meditative studies of sea, sky, and atmosphere preserve the emotional communion between the artist and his subject and encourage the viewer to experience that same tranquil state of mind.