Biographical Landscape
The Photography of Stephen Shore, 1969–1979
July 24 - September 28, 2008
Biographical Landscape offered an opportunity to revisit the works of Stephen Shore, one of the most prominent and influential American photographers to emerge in the last half-century. Focusing on Uncommon Places—Shore’s essential series on the American vernacular landscape produced between 1973 and 1982, Biographical Landscape provided an opportunity to reexamine this work in the context of his broader oeuvre, unearthing the conceptual underpinnings that inform his work throughout.
What makes this work transcend the ordinariness of the subject matter is Shore’s unsurpassed artistry and technical skill as a photographer, coupled with his unique vision of each location that he documents. Quintessentially American scenes are transformed into uncommon places that seem frozen in space and time. The viewer of a Shore photograph is seduced by the colors, the density of information, and the everyday familiarity of the locations.
Aperture, a not-for-profit organization devoted to photography and the visual arts, organized this traveling exhibition and produced the accompanying publications.
Listen to Stephen Shore’s interview with Paul Kosidowski from WUWM’s Lake Effect program
Read the article about Stephen Shore on the NPR website
STEPHEN SHORE (American, b. 1947)
U.S. 97, South of Klamath Falls, Oregon, July 21, 1973
Digital C-print
25 x 29”
©Stephen Shore, Courtesy of the artist and Aperture Foundation, Inc.