Robert Alter

Curriculum Vita

Currently: Assistant Professor, Communication Arts
Framingham State College, Framingham, Massachusetts

Education
M.S. Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Cambridge, Massachusetts,
M.S. Management, Arts Administration Lesley College- Cambridge, Massachusetts,
B.V.A., Georgia State University  Atlanta, Georgia
Visual Studies Workshop  Rochester, New York   graduate level study


Selected Exhibitions
11th Annual Juried Show Griffin Museum of Photography  Winchester, Massachusetts
Double Vision   Choate Rosemary Hall Wallingford, Connecticut
The Flag Project   Rubin Museum of Art  New York, New York
Paris Gris: Outsider Looking in   French Library and Cultural Center  Boston, Massachusetts
The Boston Printmakers North American Print Biennial  Boston University 808 Gallery: Boston, Massachusetts
Altered Arts: Digital Printmaking  A.P.E. Gallery  Northampton, MA
New England Photographers Danforth Museum  Framingham,
Massachusetts

Public Collections
Bibliotheque Nationale de France: Paris, France
La Grange College Art Museum:  La Grange, Georgia
City of Atlanta, Georgia: Grand Prize and Purchase Award- Atlanta Arts Festival
Framingham State College Archives: Framingham, Massachusetts

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“La Defense Series”    Photographs by Robert Alter

standing on the western edge of Paris, France is a large development of office towers.  Named, La Defense, this is a corporate city within a city, containing offices, shops, restaurants, and hotels. Unlike the city next door, La Defense is massive, tall and devoid of detail or human scale. 

Robert Alter began to photograph the buildings of la Defense about 5 years ago and has continued to return there.

Towering buildings like the ones of La Defense can be found in many places around the world.  They are part of an international style that celebrates power and ego.  Alter says, “I felt that the atmosphere there was cold and lifeless. I wanted to find the beauty in the place as well as show it as it is.”

Alter explains; “As I explored the area more, I noticed that the buildings often contained plantings around them.  The contrast between the plants and the buildings seemed to symbolize the relationship of nature and human works.  Our age seems to be a series of conflicts between what we call the natural world and the built environment.”

In a world of coexisting opposites, the photographs of  the “La Defense Series” provide a visual essay on the seemingly impossible coexistence of two conflicting aspects of our world. 

-R.A. 2008