Peter Cochrane (b. San Diego, CA) is a multimedia artist who depicts stories of resilience and metamorphosis through the lenses of horticulture, art history, and science fiction. Working with sculptural materials such as metals and botanical matter, to digital imaging and experimental darkroom photographic techniques, he builds elaborate narrative set pieces and objects that explore fundamental questions of human existence and cosmic time.

He received his BA from San Francisco State University (2011), and his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (2019). His work has appeared in Headmaster, The San Francisco Chronicle, Vast Magazine, Hyperallergic, Brink, Artslant, the MoCP lecture series, the de Young Museum, the Vermont Center for Photography, the Tokyo International Photo Awards, and others. He is a recipient of the Snider Prize and has been a finalist for many awards including the Hopper Prize, the Fine Art Photography Award, the Exposure Award, and the Kodak Photo Film Award. In 2022, he was nominated for The Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography. He has held several solo exhibitions nationally, and his work is in public and private collections including Capital One and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

He is the owner of Threep, a fine art printing and photography studio based in Richmond, Virginia, and teaches at VCUArts.

 
 

UPCOMING

2024 Fine Print Program, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL

2025 Back Through the Open Window, The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA

2025 Untitled Group Exhibition, Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA

2025 Untitled Exhibition, Bond Millen Gallery, Richmond, VA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 The Magician Longs to See, The Athenaeum, San Diego, CA

2021 Osiris, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2019 The Wild Beasts, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2019 The Wild Beasts, The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA

2018 Memento Vivere, Richmond, VA

2017 A Continuum, The Great Highway Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2015 Osiris (Installation), Incline Gallery, San Francisco, CA

EXHIBITIONS (Selection)

2024 Context 2024, Filter Photo, Juried by Sarah Kennel (Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts), Chicago, IL

2024 Viewfind 12, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2024 Cabin Fever, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA

2023 Art on Paper, New York, NY

2023 Washington Project for the Arts Auction, Washington DC

2023 Darkroom, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL2023 Viewfind, Page Bond Gallery

2022 Blue Hour, Candela Gallery, Richmond, VA - November 4 - December 22, 2022

2022 Beyond the Frame, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL - July 8 - October 23

2022 Spring Fever, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA

2021 Darkroom, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL

2021 Bloom, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2021 The Wild Beasts, Artfields, 4/23 - 5/1, 2021

2021 Viewfind 10, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA

2020 Represent, See.Me, [Online]

2020 Fallout, Grundwald Gallery, University of Indiana, Bloomington, ID

2019 Cabin Fever, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA

2019 Medusa, permanent installation, Andytown (downtown), San Francisco, CA

2019 The Shape of Things, University of the Arts, Helsinki, Finland

2019 The Shape of Things, The Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA

2019 Minotaur, [Sentanyl], Walnut Creek, CA

2019 Beware of Dog, FAB Gallery, Richmond, VA

2018 Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA), Tokyo, Japan

2018 From Blood to Lust, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT

2018 I Would Prefer Not To, FAB GAllery, Richmond, VA

2017 SAD, FAB Gallery, Richmond, VA

2015 The Exposure Award, Louvre Museum, Paris, France

2013 The Unknown, 1314, San Francisco, CA

2012 The Male Gaze, Cesar Chavez Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2012 Maritime Art Collective, SUB-Mission, San Francisco, CA

2012 About the Twenty-Somethings, “Matter!” de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

2012 Headmaster magazine, issue three, contributing artist

2012 About the Twenty-Somethings, “Scholarship Award Show,” SFSU, CA

2011 Neo-Mormonism, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

2011 Objectification, “Stillwell Exhibition,” SFSU Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2011 “Please Show I.D.,” Martin Wong Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2010 “Stillwell Exhibition,” SFSU Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA

EDUCATION

MFA, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

BA Art / Art History, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA

AWARDS / SCHOLARSHIPS

2022 The Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography, Nominee

2021 Film Photo Award, Finalist

2020 Hopper Prize, Finalist

2020 VCUArts Adjunct Faculty Grant

2020 Fine Art Photography Award, Nominee - Conceptual Category

2019 Kodak Film Photo Award, Finalist

2019 The Hopper Prize, Finalist

2019 The Snider Prize, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Honorable Mention

2019 Honors Society Inductee

2019 Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society Inductee

2018-2019 Full Scholarship - Graduate Teaching Assistantship | VCUArts

2018 Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA), Winner

2017-2018 Full Scholarship - Graduate Teaching Assistantship | VCUArts

2016 ArtSlant Showcase Winner

2015 The Exposure Award - Portraiture

2011 The Sher-Right Fund Scholarship, San Francisco State University

2011 Best Multi-Media Artist, “Stillwell Exhibition,” SFSU Fine Arts Gallery

2011 Best Photographer, “Stillwell Exhibition,” SFSU Fine Arts Gallery

PUBLICATIONS / OTHER MEDIA (Selection)

2023 Peter Cochrane Interview, The Hopper Prize

2021 Film Photo Award Fall 2021 Finalists, Lenscratch

2021 Photos at Zoom: Peter Cochrane, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago

2021 Artist Feature, Brink Magazine, Issue 01, 4/1

2020 VAST Magazine, “Peter Cochrane,” artist feature, August

2020 Grunwald Gallery, “Peter Cochrane,” Question / Answer, University of Indiana

2020 Photos at Zoom: Landscape and Place with Curatorial Assistant Jordan Putt, MoCP Chicago, April

2020 Focal Point Podcast: Kelli Connell and Kiba Jacobson discuss Zackary Drucker, Rhys Ernst, and Peter Cochrane, April

2019 Number, Inc. Magazine, “Interview: Peter Cochrane” with Stephanie DeMer, September

2019 Commonwealth Times, “VCUArts Celebrates 90th Anniversary,” Walter Anyanwu, May

2019 SPELGBTQ Instagram takeover, January

2018 Hyperallergic, “Emerging Artists Define Their Path” / Memento Vivere, October

2018 Artslant, “Under the Radar: Peter Cochrane,” September

2017 SFist, "20 Questions with SFist: Artist Peter Cochrane," Eve Batey, January

2016 See Me, "Peter Cochrane," November 16

2016 Artslant, "Steve Kahn's Photo-constructions,” Steve Kahn, Casemore Kirkeby

2016 Artslant, "Looking at, and Through, Photography," Ivan Iannoli at Bass & Reiner

2015 Art Business, "Osiris at Incline Gallery," October

2015 The Exposure Award, July

2015 San Francisco Chronicle, published photograph, March

2015 SFAQ, “Carrie Mae Weems: Subject & Witness,” Gallery Paula Anglim, April

2015 “LUMEN,” Cinque Mostre: Time & Again, published by The American Academy in Rome

2014 SFAQ, “Interview: Takeshi Murata and Digital Art,” May

2014 SFAQ, “Regarding the Ethics of Abstraction,” March.

2014 Darin Klein’s Box of Books, Vol. VII, “on death and,” January

2013 “Nature/Knowledge: Catherine Wagner,” San Jose Public Library, May

2013 Bomb Magazine, “The End of San Francisco?” April

2013 Holloway Magazine (Founder and Director)

2012 make/shift, feminisms in motion magazine, contributing artist

2012 Headmaster magazine, issue three, contributing artist

2011 Roll Call, SF Camerawork

EXPERIENCE

2022-Present | Board Member, 1708 Gallery (Secretary 2023-24, President 2025-26)

2023-Present | Juror, CultureWorks Arts Annual Grants Program

2020-Present | Owner, Studio Threep

2021 VCUArts | Professor, Senior Thesis (Photography)

2020 VCUArts | Professor, Senior Thesis (Photography)

2019-21 VCUArts | Professor, Intermediate Photoshop (online; self-constructed course)

2019 Lecture | The Wild Beasts at Society for Photographic Education: Double-sided

2019 VCUArts | Professor, Concepts 1

2019 VCUArts | Professor, Digital Imaging 2

2019 VCUArts | Professor, Queer Imagery (self-constructed course)

2018 VCUArts | Professor, Studio Lighting

2018 VCUArts | Guest Lecturer, Senior Thesis II

2018 Institute of Contemporary Arts, Richmond, VA | Panelist, Discussion with Cassils

2018 Institute of Contemporary Arts, Richmond, VA | Engagement Committee Member

2018 VCUArts | President, Graduate Artist Association

2018 Catherine Wagner Studio | Writer / Editor for monograph Place, History, and the Archive

2017-18 Catherine Wagner Studio | Writer / Editor

2017-2018 | VCUArts Graduate Teacher's Assistant

2017 TEDxSoMa, artist-in-residence installation, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA, June

2015-2017 Commercial Photographer / Freelance Floral Designer / Editor / Writer / Artist

2014-2016 SFAQ / NYAQ / AQ | Managing Editor, Print and Online

2012-2014 Catherine Wagner Studio | Studio Manager, Artistic Assistant, Author

2012-2014 Holloway Magazine | Founder, Editor, Communications Manager, Designer  

2011 Mills College Department of Art | Lecturer  

2011 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art | Exhibitions Archivist  

2010 SF Camerawork | Archivist