Ian Baguskas was born in 1977 in Philadelphia, PA. A full scholarship to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where he received his BFA, brought him to New York; he now resides in Brooklyn, traveling extensively to work on independent projects. Over the past four years, his Search for the American Landscape project has taken him throughout Washington, Oregon, California and Utah, making photographs based on ideas of modern exploration and travel in the West.

In 2005, Baguskas spent over two months in South Korea working on projects entitled Below Line 38 and Sansaram; an extensive article about them will appear in South Korea’s Photo Art magazine this April. For these projects, Baguskas photographed everything from Seoul’s uniformed parking hostesses to tourism at the North Korean border. In these images he documents the landscape, its people and their enthusiasm surrounding hiking culture throughout the country.

Recently named to the PDN 30, Baguskas is featured in their March 2008 issue as one of this year’s top 30 emerging photographers. He has been nominated for the 2008 KLM Paul Huf Award, honored as one of four finalists for the 2007 Aperture Portfolio Prize, included in the Hey, Hot Shot! 2006 Spring Showcase and was a winner of the 2007 Ne Plus Ultra, Hey, Hot Shot! Annual at Jen Bekman Gallery. Sixteen images from the Search for the American Landscape series were shown this year in a three-person show at The Ice Box in Philadelphia, PA. Ian Baguskas is represented by Jen Bekman Gallery.

More images by Ian Baguskas can be found at www.ianbaguskas.com