Troy Paiva, AKA Lost America, has been creating light painted night
photography in abandoned locations and junkyards since 1989. His
documentarian, yet surrealist–sometimes playful, sometimes haunting work
examines the evolution and eventual abandonment of the communities,
infrastructure and social iconography spawned during America’s 20th
century expansion into the cities and deserts of the West–and the
intensely exhilarating, yet strangely comforting act of sneaking around
in the middle of the night, creating art from its ruins.
Over the last eleven years this website has gone viral repeatedly,
spawning millions of hits. Troy’s imagery has appeared in print, in over
a dozen countries–including three Stephen King book covers–and two
award-winning monographs: “Lost America: Night Photography of the abandoned Roadside West“ in 2003 (Motorbooks International), and “Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration”
in 2008 (Chronicle Books). Troy’s work has appeared in museums and
galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Sweden and San Francisco. In 2010
and 2011 he appeared as a guest judge on the Singapore reality TV show The Big Shot.
The current craze over light painted night photography in abandoned places started
right here, with this website, back in 1999. As a result, Troy’s low
cost, high impact light painting techniques have been emulated all over
the world. The “Lost America” body of work is a true original.
Troy can be easily reached by e-mail: paiva@designshed.com
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