Figure and Ground - Hardcover

Hargreaves, Roger

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1597110299 ISBN 13: 9781597110297

Publisher: Aperture, 2006

Synopsis

Though he works with an omnivorous 8x10 camera, Richard Renaldi has the roving eye of a street photographer, always searching for the brief encounter, the fleeting moment when a stranger will open his or her life to him, and, consequently, to the viewer. Richard Renaldi's Figure and Ground, drawn from more than seven years of work, presents portraits, landscapes and, most importantly, the portraits in situ that meld those two classic photographic genres, in which he embraces not only individuals but the environment that encompasses them. These images were made across the United States, and take in not only those who might seem traditionally American-a blonde carrying a Louis Vuitton bag through a Greyhound terminal, or a rodeo cowboy, arms akimbo, standing determinedly against an all-dirt horizon-but also a woman in a burqa and Timberland boots on a faded Newark street and a transgender girl working a fast-food counter under the sad-glamorous glow of fluorescent lighting. If there is truly a center to the changing American social landscape, it can be found here, in these precisely rendered portraits.

About this title

Review:

"Richard Renaldi offers a thought-provoking depiction of the USA in this publication. His vision combines the disciplines of landscape and portraiture, and the mixture works well." -- Ben Brain --Amateur Photographer

"The book is presented as a journey across the country, from east to west, that encompasses seven years' worth of portraits and landscapes, all of them taken with a Wisner 8 X 10 view camera. The pages are populated by all kinds of people: athletes, bus travelers, businesspeople, lesbians, punk kids, a hunter, a 19-year-old cowboy-hat salesman (who started up conversation with Renaldi on Richard Avedon)." -- Kristina Feliciano --Photo District News

"Reading the book is like taking a road trip across America: Starting from portraits in New Jersey and New York City, we move west and encounter weary travelers in between places in bus stations, tattooed kids killing time in small semi-rural towns, transgender workers in fast food franchises, new immigrants conversing in suburban streets, maids in hotel hallways, surfer dudes on the West Coast." -- Jim Casper --LensCulture: Photography and Shared Territories

"The portraits offer a glimpse of ordinary people going about their daily lives, and as the title suggests, the book explores their relationship with the local environment. A contemporary look at the American vista and its inhabitants, challenging viewers' perceptions of what defines America." --HotShoe International

"His photographs are at one and the same time individual portraits and topographical studies of the physical and cultural surroundings." --Foam: International Photography Magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: Aperture
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1597110299
• ISBN 13: 9781597110297
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 156