Readymades. American roadside artifacts.

Brouws, Jeffrey.

ISBN 10: 0811836770 / ISBN 13: 9780811836777

Published by San Francisco, Chronicle Books., 2003

About this Item

23.5 x 15 cm. 271 pages : illustrations (some color). Original Hardcover in protective Mylar. Excellent condition with only minor signs of external wear. Jeff Brouws has crisscrossed the country for two decades, documenting an America that is at once quintessential and peculiar. Readymades is a quirky, multi-layered catalog of this ascendant photographer's work: partially painted pickup trucks, bowling alley signs, vibrant-hued houses that defy the monotony of the suburbs, abandoned drive-in movie theaters. Brouws treats his subjects as readymade art found in the landscape, brought together to create an idiosyncratic roadside panorama. Provocative essays by leading writers and cultural commentators such as Luc Sante, DJ Waldie, M. Mark, Diana Gaston, Bruce Caron, and Phil Patton are juxtaposed with these images of all that is unique in the uniform, and striking in the mundane. (Publisher) Sprache: english.

Seller Inventory # 100120AB

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Readymades. American roadside artifacts.
• Publisher: San Francisco, Chronicle Books.
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0811836770
• ISBN 13: 9780811836777
• Binding: Hardcover
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Varia

About this title

Synopsis

Readymades is a photographic exploration of the structures, signs, and symbols of a rapidly disappearing America. Like the "readymade" art conceived by Marcel Duchamp, the subjects of these photos are objects that might otherwise go unnoticed - partially painted pickup trucks and rusted, faded freight cars that resemble Mark Rothko paintings. The subtle and elegant beauty of abandoned drive in movie screens, white rectangular shapes in various states of decay, isolated and forlorn in neglected landscapes are another example of finding beauty in the derelict and discarded. The book pairs each selection of images with an essay by leading writers and cultural critics including Luc Sante, M. Mark, D.J. Waldie, Mark Frauenfelder, Diana Gaston, and Phil Patton. Packaged in an interesting and handy horizontal format, the images collected here present a new way of looking at vestiges of American culture that are at once familiar and increasingly rare.

About the Author

In the tradition of William Eggleston, William Christenberry, Walker Evans and Joel Sternfeld, Jeff Brouws is a gifted observer of modern environments and the objects and people that inhabit them. He is a young talent and his work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Getty Museum, and others. He has lectured and taught workshops and his photographs have appeared in Esquire, GQ, Oprah Magazine, and Harper's Bazaar among others.