Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places

writer: russell j.t. dyer; posted: sep 2017; readers past month: 465

Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places

author: Lynne Tillman
edition: 1
published: 2005
publisher: Aperture
isbn: 978-1931788342
pages: 188
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A teenaged photographic aspirant who hung around at Andy Warhol’s factory in its mid-60s heyday, Shore found success early: his first show at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art was held when he was only 23. These 152 full-page, full-color shots comprise his serial project of the 70s, “Uncommon Places,” which documented roadside America with a dispassionate, Andy-like emptiness. It’s an aesthetic that has been endlessly co-opted by American filmmakers like Gus Van Sant and Jim Jarmusch, but some of these 12 7/8” � 10 5/16” shots of prairies, parking lots, polyester-clad couples and plastic hotel furnishings manage to seem fresh nonetheless.