Peter Tomka Explores Life After Loss in 'Bachelor Suite'
On view at Webber Gallery until February 29.
Webber Gallery presents Bachelor Suite, the latest series by Los Angeles-based photographer Peter Tomka. Through a mix of original and found images, Tomka explores themes of loss, reconstruction and queer identity, creating a fragmented yet deeply personal narrative.
Tomka’s process involves cropping and repurposing thousands of photographs – both his own and researched imagery – to build layered compositions. These digital negatives are inverted, enlarged and projected onto light-sensitive paper through a makeshift glory hole, now symbolically cut through a mattress. This technique ties into his ongoing exploration of queer spaces, dreams and eroticism, echoing his previous project, Watering Hole.
Set in Tomka’s apartment in Koreatown’s historic Gaylord Apartments, Bachelor Suite blurs private and public spheres, drawing from Hollywood noir aesthetics, particularly the film The Black Angel. The segmented, four-part prints resemble crime scene flash photography, reinforcing Tomka’s ongoing engagement with surveillance and voyeurism – central to his previous project, Studio Encore.
Bachelor Suite is now on view at Webber Gallery until February 29.
Webber Gallery
18 Newman St, London
W1T 1PE, United Kingdom
