Anywhere, California

Anywhere, California is another close look by Rudy VanderLans into the cultural landscape of his favorite subject, the Golden State. Whether it’s the garage where Apple started in Los Altos, or the former location where the Manson Family lived in Chatsworth, or an anonymous abandoned storefront in Calexico, VanderLans finds beauty in the unlikeliest of locations. Yet he rarely divulges the why or what of his photographs. Instead he stresses that things aren’t always what they appear to be, leaving much to the imagination of the reader.

Stylistically diverse, and meticulously composed, his pictures are as sundry in nature as California itself. Presented in unencumbered page layouts, with well-considered sequencing, this publication is another testament to VanderLans’ dual mastery of design and photography. It continues his preference for the book format as his primary vehicle to show his photography, making this limited first edition another instant collectible.

Rudy VanderLans is the co-founder of Emigre, Inc., a digital type foundry and publisher of type specimens and artist books based in Berkeley, California. From 1984 until 2005 Emigre published the infamous Emigre magazine, a quarterly publication devoted to visual communication. As a parallel interest, VanderLans has been photographing the California urban environment since he moved there from the Netherlands in 1981.