American photographer Peter Steinhauer has brought to us over the years a tranquil and meditative facet of Hong Kong with his atmospheric black-and-white photography, challenging our perspective on a city that is stereotypically associated with noise and chaos. In his upcoming solo exhibition “Cocoons”, Peter Steinhauer will once again offer a fresh angle to this dazzling city with his new body of work.

Instead of travelling to open nature and secluded urban areas for inspirations, Steinhauer focuses on buildings that are covered with bamboo scaffolding and nylon gauze netting in this latest series. This unique manner of wrapping architecture, one that is only preserved in the super modern city of Hong Kong, are visually striking and resembles large colorful packages surrounded by buildings in Steinhauer's perception. Steinhauer consciously photographs these packaged buildings in their environmental surroundings, established a topography that is distinctly Hong Kong.

The Cocoons series is an artistic departure for Peter Steinhauer. For the first time he is photographing and printing in color rather than his signature black and white. His photographs are garnering praise around the world, most notably the recent acquisition of two prints from the Cocoons series by Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art.

Peter Steinhauer’s photographs are both works of silence and works full of life. Since 1993 he has been documenting the many facets of Asian cultures. Steinhauer focuses on documenting portraits, natural landscape, seascapes, urban cityscapes and man made structure from different countries throughout Asia. His finely crafted black and white prints are shown and exhibited in galleries and museums internationally and are widely collected throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. He is also a recipient of numerous international photography awards. In 2009 he was awarded in numerous categories in the prestigious IPA and PX3 Paris Annual Photography Awards. In 2004 he was awarded with a Ford Foundation Grant for his work from Vietnam and in 2005, the United States Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam chose to exhibit Steinhauer’s photographs as part of the Ten Year Anniversary Celebration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam, which were exhibited at both the Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City Fine Art Museums.

Steinhauer’s first book on Vietnam entitled, Vietnam: Portraits and Landscapes, was published in 2002. Enduring Spirit of Vietnam, Steinhauer’s second publication was published in 2007 and was awarded Best Photography Book of the Year 2007 by PDN (Photo District News), and won a Silver Medal in the Independent Publishers Annual Book Awards 2007. Current book projects include two books on Hong Kong, one on Bali, Burma, India and a third on Vietnam.

Exhibition Opening Date: 11 March 2011 (Thursday) 6:00 -8: 30pm