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| Photos : Joshua A. TRILIEGI BUREAU of Arts and Culture " L.A Walking Series 2008-2012 " Visit The Exhibit Oct 25 & 26th 2012 |
BUREAU : ART
WILLIAM EGGLESTON
GAGOSIAN GALLERY BEVERLY HILLS
By Joshua A. TRILIEGI
William Eggleston made a rare appearance at
Gagosian Beverly Hills recently for the opening
of his famous Series of Photographs entitled,
“ Los Alamos “. What may
have seemed like a
Random photo essay on life in America during
a tumultuous time in our history has since become
an extremely important and entertaining body of
work. Iconic. Simple. The straight ahead Jazz of
The photographic world. Eggleston has an eye for
the random. When many of his contemporaries were
shooting weddings, superstars, or their own families.
William drove through sleepy little towns capturing
real life moments, a time and a place, little vignettes
of what is now commonly known as, “Americana” .
Mr Eggleston’s work has a social symbol aspect to it.
A special and keen eye for light, a brave and vigorous
snapshot sensibility that goes far beyond documentation.
He changed the entire landscape of what a photo is, by
simply being interested in the smallest detail, texture,
object, person, place and thing. Sounds
easy. Most things
do fifty years later, during the time, not so. Eggleston
focused on the America that was changing. He turned his
lens to things that few others noticed, took for granted,
or simple had left behind. With much of the interest of
the time moving to the big cities, the Los Alamos Series
captures small town America at a pivotal moment in our
culture.
There is a long lineage of documentarians including
Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Henri Cartier – Bresson
to name a few, but William Eggleston took all that tradition
and went a step further, his color saturation, his dogged,
roving eye, his well rounded interest in people, places and
things, seems to take it all in, as if the world itself was
worth
viewing in every minute detail. The changing times are often
what makes photography valuable. Money, power and activity
of energy were moving away from places like Los Alamos.
This was the end of an era. Pre - hippy, post beatnik, just prior
to the entire cultural, sexual and youthful revolution that
changed
everything for everyone, everywhere. Los Alamos
captures a
sleepy little town with a provincial flair for what is
coming soon.
Mr Eggleston knew exactly what he was doing and did it well.
When asked recently if he thought his work would be collected,
sought after and celebrated while he was making it, he
simply
answered : “Yes ”. A
handsome man with a strong grip and few
words. Mr Eggleston is a Southern Gentlemen, the type of
artist
one would enjoy a day at the races with, a Scotch on the
rocks
or maybe take in an old film while discussing anything
but art.
Eggleston’ s legacy to the American art scene is by no means
nostalgic overtly. Not in any traditional sense of the word.
There is a political aspect to much of his documentation, a
juxtaposing of subjects walking towards, while others are
walking away. In it’s
time , it may have seemed obsessive,
random, even simply mundane. But not so quickly my friends.
This catalogue is immensely important. Thanks somewhat to
time. That ever present thing that marches on and waits for
no
man. Time is the secret ingredient for artists and always
will be.
This body of work is clever, disciplined, organic and
colorful.
It is extremely gratifying to see an elder artist being
honored
while alive to tell it all. All too often, talent, fame and
yes,
genius is lauded after the fact, leaving only the galleries,
the
museums and the professors to speak for the man, the woman,
the hard working individual who actually did the thing we
like.
Or in this case the thing we love, for this is indeed a
great art.
A man alone with a camera, no assistant, no team, no baggage.
Just a vision, a time, a place and a wanderlust to capture
it all.
By Joshua A. TRILIEGI for BUREAUofARTSandCULTURE.com
VISIT ART PAGE FOR RESOURCES
AND LINKS TO INTERESTING GALLERIES AND INSTITUTES
SIMPLY TAP THE SUBJECT & EXPLORE A WORLD OF ART
AND LINKS TO INTERESTING GALLERIES AND INSTITUTES
SIMPLY TAP THE SUBJECT & EXPLORE A WORLD OF ART
