The history of photography is peppered with men and women who furthered the chemical and mechanical technology of putting light onto a piece of paper. They refined the chemistry or developed faster lenses. The history of photography is equally peppered with artists whose primary concern was not technical machinations but the medium’s ability to accomplish the goals of fine art. It is rare that one individual is as passionate about the technology of photography as he is about photography as art. Stephen Schaub is one such person. Born in Temperance, Michigan, a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Stephen Schaub is an artist and printer living and working in Pawlet, Vermont. Over the past fifteen years, he has mastered and expounded each medium he chose to work with.

“The Last Five Years” chronicles the evolution of Schaub’s work over a period of intense activity during which he produced six significant bodies of work. Not only does each series progressively blur the line between traditional and digital photography, we see Schaub reaching out for new materials and techniques. From piezograph prints on European mould-made papers to the use of encaustic, Schaub pushes the boundaries of what we have come to understand as photography. Collectively, they show the evolution of a hybrid artist and a foundation for the future of photography.