Gordon Watkinson's Linkedin Analytics

Gordon Watkinson (Artist/Author/Commercial Director/Photographer) was born in 1964 in Charlottesville, Virginia (USA). Gordon Watkinson borrowed a camera for a photography class he took at the age of 24 while attending Virginia Commonwealth University (USA). Although he had never previously thought of photography in a serious way, after completing the course, his professor saw enough in his work that he encouraged Watkinson to reconsider his career choice and arranged for him to begin working as a photographic assistant. Watkinson’s subsequent work as a commercial photographer spanned a broad range of clients from the fields of advertising, architecture, design, and fashion. In conjunction with his photographic work he has directed commercials, made industrial videos, and worked directly with major corporations as well as specialized brands, helping them to develop visual strategies for targeted markets. Over the years, he developed a strong sensitivity for both forms and materials, which has shaped his visual language and strengthened his fascination for holistic minimalist design. During a trip to the Bauhaus School in Dessau, Germany, in the late 1990s, Watkinson was introduced to the role of design as a solution to social issues. This became the catalyst for an intense and ongoing interaction with modernist design and its different iterations in and outside of Europe. Through his subsequent work, he has become an outspoken advocate of the power of design as a life-changing tool. In 2004, Watkinson founded Foto+Synthesis (http://fotosynthesis.com), a traveling exhibition service specializing in photographic based projects, in order to offer an exhibition platform for living artists working in the medium of photography. In this context Foto+Synthesis develops traveling exhibitions, accompanying publications (both print and digital), as well as educational programming. Watkinson has lectured internationally, most notably at the National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design in Oslo, Norway, and at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. His work is in the permanent collection of the German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt, Germany, and in various private collections.