WOOL, Christopher - East Broadway Breakdown

Background information, content

"Between 1994 and 1995, Christopher WOOL made a series of black-and-white photographs in downtown New York that he calls 'East Broadway Breakdown,' after a street on the Lower East Side, the neighborhood where he lives and works. Taken at night with a 35mm camera, the images show the neighborhood's typical streets, run-down storefronts, and dilapidated staircases leading to anonymous spaces. Often the photographs, which are extreme in contrast, are difficult to decipher; instead of clear contexts, they show random shapes emerging from distorted camera angles.
Like paintings, the photographs in his out-of-print photo volume 'East Broadway Breakdown' remain suspended between abstraction and concrete representation, forcing the viewer to confront his or her urge for visual coherence. Here, as there, the U.S. photographic artist shows us an alternative idea of what an image is." (© Holzwarth, 2003)

Additional information

The out-of-print photo volume 'East Broadway Breakdown' by Christopher WOOL is included in 'The Photobook: A History, Volume III.' by Martin PARR and Gerry BADGER.

About the American photographic artist Christopher WOOL (b. 1955)

Photo books by Christopher WOOL