Ave Pildas | American, 1939 -
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ave Pildas worked early in his career as a photography stringer for Downbeat Magazine in the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania in the 1960's. In 1965 he moved to Switzerland to pursue graduate studies in graphic design at the legendary Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel under Armin Hoffman. He returned to the United States in 1968, and in 1971 moved to Los Angeles as an Art Director for Capitol Records. While at Capitol, he designed and photographed album covers for Capitol recording artists. He launched a career as a freelance photographer and designer soon after, specializing in architectural and corporate photography. He documented Los Angeles in the 1970's. Harper and Row published his book Art Deco Los Angeles in 1980 and Crown Press (Clarkson Potter) published his book Movie Palaces in 1982. Movie Palaces was reissued by Hennessy and Ingalls in 2000. His photographs have been exhibited in one man shows at the: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Photographers Gallery, London, Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, Gallerie Diaframma, Milan, Cannon Gallery, Amsterdam, Gallerie 38, Zurich and numerous group shows. They have been featured in the, The New York Times Magazine, 'ZOOM', 'PHOTO', 'CAMERA', 'photographic' and many publications both in the United States and abroad . Photographs by Ave Pildas are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Bibliotheca National, Paris; the University of Arizona as well as numerous other public and private collections.
Ave Pildas has lectured in colleges and universities around the world. He has taught design and photography courses at the Philadelphia College of Art, California Institute of the Arts, Art Center College of Design, Ravensborne College of Art, Leichester Polytechnic, University Of California, Los Angeles and most recently Otis College of Art and Design, where he held the position of Chair of the Communication Art Department from 2000 till 2006. He is currently a Professor of Design at Otis.