STEINMETZ, Mark - Summertime

All photographs © Mark Steinmetz and courtesy Nazraeli Press

Background information

Mark STEINMETZ is an American photographer who has been photographically capturing young people in their environment since the 1980s. His black and white photographs are often very cautious. His long out-of-print photo book 'Summertime' also features B&W shots taken over a period of about ten years - from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s - focusing on the restless summer activities of American youth.

Content

"Mark STEINMETZ's photobook 'Summertime' is a wonderful coda to this impressive collection, recalling the end of his magnificent opus ('South Central,' 'South East,' and 'Greater Atlanta'). His work is remarkable in many ways, as he knows how to reveal the subtle beauties of everyday life that would feel grimy and gross in the hands of other photographers. 'Summertime' is more focused than his previous photography volumes and contains a wealth of quiet and meditative portraits of children and young adults in places as diverse as Boston, Chicage and Knoxville. Flipping through the book, you can almost hear T-Rex, Mötley Crüe, and Twisted Sister playing in the background as the various youngsters hang out on their porches or in their cars, smoking and lounging to fill their summer days with careless fun.While his previous photography volumes have included landscapes, portraits and animals in equal measure, 'Summetime' focuses exclusively on children and teens. Predominantly outdoors, the children in the images sit on sidewalks, play with sprinkles, and rest on car hoods or porches. While some children engage in minor activities, a sense of stillness dominates the work. The hot, humid summer air seems to force the children outdoors, where they sit in the shade, on the streets, or wherever the day has taken them. The photographs are framed by two fantastic images that perfectly complement the work: the photo book 'Summertime' opens with an image of a young man lying on a wide meadow with his school in the background. Although it appears that it is autumn, the boy seems to be happily dreaming of the possibilities of summer spread out before him. And 'Summertime' ends with a bittersweet image: another youth lying on a front lawn, resting in the lap of an obscured figure. His body is wrapped in a cast that begins at his chest. At first glance, it quickly becomes apparent that his entire cast and body are covered with messages from numerous friends. Even trapped in a cast, his graffiti-drawn body bears witness to a summer of fun, adventure and new friends.  As a parenthesis, the two images suggest both the possibility and the promise of a summer and a blissful buzz of a Rawkus summer full of joyful memories.Looking at 'Summertime' several times, ma feels that this work is an antithesis to much portrait work done elsewhere in contemporary photography: there are no garbled portraits of children sitting on beds or couches, no teenagers standing free in the middle of the frame, and there are no conceptual gimmicks in the work of Mark STEINMETZ. Instead, his work exudes a radical honesty that is both disarming and refreshing. As others have noted, the photos are incredibly revealing, but never forced or contrived. We get brief but intimate access to various moments in these children's lives, but we move on just as quickly." (freely translated and adapted, © Adam Bell, in: Maple Magazine)