Craig Shofed was working a typical nine to five day in the world of information technology before moving to Trenton, New Jersey and discovering Trenton’s Art Scene.
“I moved here and got involved with Artworks immediately. I was probably one of the first set of volunteers to do Art all Night,” Shofed Explained. In November of 2011, Shofed had kidney transplants which left him on bed rest for the following year.
Unable to go out, Shofed began to use art as a means to relax. He painted all of his wife’s holiday gifts, from her birthday to Christmas. “I was painting for her for gifts and stuff because I couldn’t go out, you know, your immune system is compromised a little bit. So you got to stay in for the first couple of months. And so I couldn’t give her presents for her birthday and anniversary,” Shofed said.
After that year, Shofed decided to quit his nine to five and become a full-time contemporary artist. “I told my wife that I think I’m not gonna go back to work. I think I want to be an artist. And she basically said, Okay, you got three years to make money,” Shofed said.
Ten years later, Craig Shofed now goes by C.a.Shofed, a fine art photographer who focuses on the unseen world.
Shofed started with his now well-known niche of photographing everyday items. “Things that we pass by every day, you know, oh, it’s a stop sign. Oh, it’s that flower I see every day, whatever, just stuff that we pass by and don’t take notice of,” Shofed said.
His area of photography is the city of Trenton, the urban settings across the city allow for Shofed to explore and stretch his creative mind to capture the history and beauty of the town.
“There’s a lot of history,” Shofed said. “Which means there’s a lot of distress because there’s a lot of abandoned factories and so on. So you get some really cool nature trying to take over some of those factories, stuff that we interact and pass by every day but don’t see as beautiful.
As the years went on, Shofed stretched into the more abstract area of photography, explaining that his brush is his camera. “My work has become a little bit more abstract. It’s taking the same subjects but maybe making it a little bit more abstract, making a lot of reflection of buildings, a lot of high contrast, lots of colors. I generally shoot things oversaturated,” Shofed said.
This weekend at Art All Day, Shofed will be showing a history of his work from where he started to where he is now at his studio at 218 Jackson Street.
