“Simple structures, whose beauty is more difficult to find in the surrounding landscape interest me. The subtle intrusion into the landscape such as stone cracked by freezing and thawing due to exposure to the elements, simple pole lines breaking a simple horizon line with almost indistinguishable tonal qualities, or a red stripe from a tractor parked on the roadside are images that inspire me but it is the the landscape that endures, it is the landscape that remains in control.”
Ned Pratt was born in Salmonier (NL), and currently lives in Newfoundland and Labrador. He holds a BFA in photography from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and a BA in art history from Acadia University. His photography has been exhibited at the former Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, PREFIX Photo, the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival (2012) and in Oh, Canada: Contemporary Art from North America at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (touring from 2012–16). He holds the 2017 Large Year Award from Visual Artists Newfoundland and Labrador for Excellence in the Visual Arts.
In 2018, Pratt’s first touring survey exhibition, One Wave, curated by Mireille Eagan, opened at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (September 2018 – February 2019). The exhibition was accompanied with a major publication and toured to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, NB (September 2019 – February 2020), The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (October 2020 – February 2021) and to Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery, Sarnia ON (March 4 – September 10, 2022).
Ned Pratt’s work has been written about in various publications, including Canadian Art, CBC Arts, Momus, and Mason Journal. His photographs are held in major public and corporate collections across Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia.
Baker, Tora. Minimalist “Intentionally Flat” Seascapes of Newfoundland that Focus on Colour and Light. Creative Boom. August 22nd, 2018
Goodden, Sky. A Parallel Landscape: Ned Pratt’s Abstract Sublime. Momus. May 24, 2016
Landau, Emily. 10 must-see shows at the Contact Photography Festival. Toronto Life. April 26, 2016
MacDonald, Mary. Poetic Heroic Horizons: Mary MacDonald on Ned Pratt’s New Exhibit. The Overcast. June 1, 2016
Hill, Lizzy. Rugged Nonconformity: The Art of Newfoundland and Labrador. National Gallery of Canada Magazine. February 19, 2014
Adler, Shelley. Big Art on Small Walls: Ned Pratt’s Newfoundland Views. Canadian Art. August 14, 2013
Helterman, Jolyon. Southern Exposure. The Walrus. September 2012
Interview with Ned Pratt: An Unforgiving Landscape. Mason Journal. December 31, 2011
Aikens Wall
McCarthy Brothers
Bottom of the Loop
Two Ponds at Dusk
Red Shed Innovation
Crowleys Property
Shadows on the Sea Fret
Barrens in the Spring
Sea Stack
Bay L'Argent
Modern Stage
Little Harbour East
Paddens Room
Seldom Side Road
Union Window
Bowring Dusk
Spaniard's Bay
Walrus
Floatplane Hanger
Air Field
Keats Strip
Littledale
Southwest Wind
History of a Place
Factory
Yellow Ochre Calm Day
St. Vincents Tumble
Tourism
Bellevue
Low Water
New Lines
Shag Rock
Turpins
Bennets, High Island
Water Reservoirs
New Wharf Early Cribbing
The White Prow
Weathered Structure, Green Bay
End of the Wharf, Little Port
Cape Pine Road, Early Morning
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