John Maggiotto is an artist living in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. He studied Art history and studio photography at the State University of New York at Buffalo . His true apprenticeship in fine arts took place at Hallwalls from 1977 to 1980, becoming the director in 1979. In 1983, Maggiotto moved to Los Angeles where he exhibited his SX-70 Polaroid works at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, LA Institute of Contemporary Art and the LA County Museum of Art. The work explored the television world of idealized roles through appropriated gestures and glances all depicted in the painterly palette of the SX-70 film format. These early works relied heavily on the grid for a sense of abundance and scale. In 1985 he moved to Brooklyn, and abandoned traditional photo materials for marble and plaster, the imagery gained a more visceral reaction from viewers. Using architectural tiles (usually 12” sq.) he built image collages around themes such as labor, love, ambition, tragedy and family.