Personal statement by the photographer, Stephen SHORE
"In 'American Surfaces', I was photographing almost every meal I ate, every person I met, every waiter or waitress who served me, every bed I slept in, every toilet I peed in. But also, I was photographing streets I was driving through, buildings I would see." (© Stephen SHORE)
Background information
"Stephen SHORE is one of the photographers who established color photography as a legitimate medium of artistic expression. 'American Surfaces' is one of the bodies of work which exemplifies why. A mix between 'Paris' by Eugène ATGET, which documents just about every facade, tree and street corner available, and the apparently casual, Americans' road trip by Robert FRANK, this, little published body of work, took documentary photography to a whole new level and opened up an entire range of possibilities to the next generation of photographers. (...)
Stephen SHORE returned to New York triumphant, with hundreds of rolls of film spilling from his bags. In order to remain faithful to the conceptual foundations of the project, he followed the lead of most tourists of the time and sent his film to be developed and printed in Kodak's labs in New Jersey.The result was hundreds and hundreds of exquisitely composed color pictures, whose subject became the benchmark for documenting of our fast-living, consumer-orientated world - a body of work that followed on from Walker EVANS and Robert FRANK's experiences of crossing America and that influenced reams of photographers such as Martin PARR and Bernd & Hilla BECHER, who introduced a generation of students to Shore's work." (publisher's note, © Phaidon Verlag, 2008)
In 1972, Stephen SHORE left New York City and set out with a friend to Amarillo, Texas. He didn't drive, so his first view of America was framed by the passenger's window frame. He was taken aback by the fact that his experience of life as a New Yorker had very little in common with the character and aspirations of Middle America. Later that year he set out again, this time on his own, with a driver's license and a Rollei 35 - a point-and-shoot camera - to explore the country through the eyes of an everyday tourist. The project was entitled 'American Surfaces' - referring to the superficial nature of his brief encounters with places and people and the underlying character of the images that he hoped to produce.With such an easy-to-use camera, he photographed relentlessly. (...)
Content, critic
'American Surfaces: Revised & Expanded Edition' is an updated edition of Stephen SHORE's groundbreaking book, now with previously unpublished photographs and a new introduction. His images from his travels across America in 1972-73 are considered the benchmark for documenting the extraordinary in the ordinary and continue to influence photographers today. The original edition of 'American Surfaces', published in 2005, brought together 320 photographs sequenced in the order in which they were originally documented.
Now, in the age of Instagram and nearly 50 years after Stephen SHORE embarked on his cross-country journey, this photo volume, 'American Surfaces: Revised & Expanded Edition'; will bring this seminal work back into focus.
"As a recorder of the fleeting but highly charged moments in the every day, the weight of Shore's influence is undeniable." (© Creative Review)
"The exquisitely composed color photographs by Stephen SHORE became the benchmark for documenting our consumer-driven, fast-living world." (© Lexus magazine)
About the American photographer, Stephen SHORE (b. 1947, in New York City)
Photo books by Stephen SHORE
- Ed(s)/Author(s)
- Teju Cole
- Format
- Re-edit, HC, 21 x 24,5 cm., 256 pp., 350 color ills., text language: English