Stephen Shore and "Boonville USA"
Friday, May 18, 2007
Merced River, Yosemite Park, California, August 13, 1979, Copyright Stephen Shore
Stephen Shore is often considered one of the greatest American photographers living. He is also known, alongside William Eggelston, as the pioneer of color art-photography. In the early seventies, Shore set out for a solo-trip across the country, photographing everything in-between. What came out of it was one of the greatest bodies of work ever produced by an American artist - so good that the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibition of the work. The only other living photographer that the MET gave a show to was Edward Steichen. Shore was only 24.
Trail's End Restaurant, Kanab, Utah, August 10, 1973, Copyright Stephen Shore
By the age of 14 Shore was selling prints to the MOMA and by his early twenties he was a regular at Andy Wharhol's Factory. Shore is featured in today's New York Times Art Section, a big front page salute. Read the article here. Stephen has been popping up all over NY lately. Interviews, readings and today he is speaking alongside another great American Photographer, Tim Davis, at ICP (They both teach at Bard - actually Shore is the head of the program). This is all due to the opening of Shore's new show at ICP, Biographical Landscape: The Photography of Stephen Shore, 1969-1979, which opened last week.
Michael and Sandy Marsh, Amarillo, Texas, September 27, 1974, Copyright Stephen Shore
Shore was a great inspiration to me early on. When I first saw his cross-country work I was in awe. I wanted so bad to have what he had: to be able to travel all across the country, exploring America with a camera, really capturing a time and a place. My Boonville USA trip stems from Shore, his biographical images and the need to explore the familiar unfamiliar.
Early on, I simply wanted to do just that - get in a car for 6 months and drive, stopping anywhere I wanted. The photography and art world isn't that easy to please, though. (Visit BoonvilleUSA.com for more info on my upcoming cross-country project). I don't love taking pictures just to take pictures; there is a larger purpose at hand. The process, history, time and place, theory, and psychology all take an equal part in completing the formula of my photography. To just take a picture isn't going to make it into the minds and hearts of your contemporaries, your audience. Commercial photography for example: When I attended Hallmark we would often say, "What's so special about that photograph? I can do that." The response was often "yeah, but he/she did that, not you." This is a good comparison. We were young - we did not understand the workings of the commercial world, the politics - that specific photographer did not yet have our "hearts and minds." Although Hallmark prepares you for the photography world, early on we could not yet compute (at least I couldn't) the complicated process of the fashion and advertising world. After I left that side of photography, I found the conceptual side, the art world. I essentialy started over, beginning the journey to understand a new and complicated type of photography. I would often say "What's so special about that?" Conceptual photography can be hard to wrap your head around at first, but when you do, you will never want to leave.
Labels: Timothy Briner
posted by Timothy Briner @ 4:54 AM,
