Scott Fortino

  • soft parade uptown
  • urbanisms: imaginary city
  • between futility and desire
  • coming of age, midwest military schools
  • institutional
  • lake
  • Bio + CV
  • Contact
  • Print Info

Bio + CV

.Summary

Scott Fortino developed his approach to photography out of experiences directly related to his position as a Chicago police officer. This work led to the publication of his monograph, Institutional, which depicted seemingly impersonal architectural spaces while revealing the embedded evidence of personal use. He received his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BA from Columbia College Chicago. He has had solo exhibitions in Chicago at the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. His work is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Milwaukee Art Museum, Worcester Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and numerous public and private collections. He lives and works in Chicago.

Education + Experience

Columbia College Chicago, BA received 1980

University of Illinois at Chicago, MFA received 2001

Chicago Police Officer, 1980 – 2011

 Selected Exhibitions

Chicago Architecture Biennial ‘a love of the world’ curated by Jesus Vassallo, 2017

Summer Show, Document Gallery, Chicago, 2017

re:collection, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, 2017

Gilded Forest: The Holiday Show, Kasher Potamkin, New York City, 2014

 City Self, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2014

A Variety Show, Document Gallery, Chicago, 2013 (solo)

 Lakeshore, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Chicago, 2013 (solo)

 Unfurl, Devening Projects + Editions, Chicago, 2012 (solo)

 Evanston + Vicinity Biennial, Evanston Il. 2010

Rena Sternberg Gallery, Glencoe, Il 2010

Environmental Law & Policy Center, Chicago, 2010

Elements: Earth Sky Water, City Gallery, Chicago, 2009 (solo)

Place and Presence, Block Museum of Art, Evanston, Il. 2009

Trendbeheer Presents, Rotterdam Hofplein, Rotterdam, Nl. 2009

Devening Projects + Editions, Chicago, 2007

Museum of Contemporary Art, 12 X 12, Chicago, 2007 (solo)

Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, 2002 (solo)

 Commissioned Photography

Chicago Architectural Biennial, 2017

Chicago Four Seasons, 2016

McCormick Place West, 2008

City 2000 Project, 2000

Chicago Park Hyatt, 1999

Collections

 Art Institute of Chicago

Fidelity Corporate Art Collection, Boston Ma.

Federal Reserve Bank, Chicago

Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago

Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL

Bank of America (LaSalle Bank Collection), Chicago

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wi.

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester Ma.

Chicago Four Seasons

Private collections nationwide

Publications

 Blueprint for Disaster: The Unravelling of Chicago Public Housing, D. Bradford Hunt, University of Chicago Press, 2009 (selection from “Doors of Cabrini”)

 Chicago: A Geography of the City and Its Region, Center for American Places, 2006

 Institutional, Center for American Places and Columbia College Chicago, 2005 (monograph)

 Chicago Photographs, LaSalle Bank Collection, 2005