PICTURE BOOK JUXTAPOZ.COM (^) | 25
AT AGE OF 22, AFTER DROPPING OUT OF THE YALE
MFA program, Mark Steinmetz headed west to Los
Angeles to continue his pursuit of making photographs.
Despite his dependence on a car within a city of vast
sprawl, he repeatedly had chance encounters with the
illustrious photographer, Garry Winogrand. During the last
year of Winogrand’s life, Steinmetz would subsequently
photograph alongside him and adopt similar approaches
to his own photographic ethos. Steinmetz has said that
for a significant portion of his young adult life, he would
allot the bedroom of his living space to a darkroom, and
kitchen to the print washer, while alternatively sleeping
in the living room or hallway. The traditional process of
shooting film, as well as self-developing and self-printing,
continues in Steinmetz’s practice to this day, but he now
does the chemical work separately from where he lays his
head at night. He has produced over a dozen bodies of
work, in categorically nebulous categories, with titles like
South Central, Summertime, Greater Atlanta and South
East. Steinmetz has explained that the names are more
abstract than informative or useful. An exploration of the
multitude of compelling images Steinmetz has created over
30 years reveals a cohesiveness and uniformity from which
he never deviates. Steinmetz’s work has been included in
a number of renowned museum collections across the U.S.
and, working closely with Nazraeli Press, he has produced
several monographs, many of which have sold out and now
command high resale values. —Austin McManus
MARK STEINMETZ
THE LYRIC OF LIGHT
above
From Summertime (2011),
a book which focuses on
kids and teenagers.
left
From Greater Atlanta
(2009)
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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