John Casado
1944 - Present
John Casado began studying medicine before changing his direction and enrolling at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. In the 1960s and 1970s, Casado worked in the field of advertising and design, initially as an art director for Young & Rubicam. In 1974, he founded his own graphic design company, Casado, Inc. and went on to create logos and trademarks for major companies such as New Line Cinema and Macintosh. He left the field of graphic design in 1989 in order to pursue a career as a commercial and fine art photographer.
On the fine art side of his practice, Casado has focused on the male and female nude. While visualizing the body as an abstract form he also attempts to give expression to his own subconscious mind. Casado cites a range of inspirations, from African art to the haunting paintings of Francis Bacon. As he works with the human figure in his photographs he sets out, in his words, to "find a way to express both the symbolic darkness and the inherent purity and grace of the naked body." While Casado photographs primarily in black and white, when printing his work he uses the distinctive Lith process, which yields a soft, delicate quality in the lighter tones along with heavier, more grainy shadows. As the Lith developer ages, it can be reused repeatedly to create different colors and hues, such as the golden tone of Casado's photograph Ako Figure #158.Text © Museum of Contemporary Photography, 2018