Untitled

Mitch EpsteinWW-1997-090908

1997·Chromogenic print·58.7 × 71.3 cm (23 1/8 × 28 1/8 in.)

<p>Over the past four decades, Mitch Epstein has established himself as a trenchant observer of the everyday. Working in discrete projects in both black and white and color—he was first introduced to color when his photography teacher, Garry Winogrand, showed the class prints by William Eggleston—he connects significant details with larger themes in modern life. This photograph is from the series <em>The City</em>, which explores the blurred lines between public and private life in New York. “I’m interested in myth-making from the ordinary and banal; to use photography through wit and irony to change the nature of things seen,” he has said. Here the layered contrasts—a dirty window with a fading sign on the glass that declares “Clean & Neat,” and a rundown theater that is named “Empire” in a tribute to better days—filter our perception of a changing city.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1997
Medium: Chromogenic print
Dimensions: 58.7 × 71.3 cm (23 1/8 × 28 1/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Mitch Epstein

Artist

Mitch Epstein

Photography

Mitch Epstein is an American photographer born in 1952 whose practice spans documentary and conceptual approaches to landscape, infrastructure, and social systems. Working primarily in color photography since the 1970s, he examines the relationship between industrial development, energy production, and the American environment. His work has appeared in major institutional collections and exhibitions, addressing the material structures that shape contemporary life. Epstein's photographs operate at the intersection of straightforward observation and analytical rigor, treating factories, power plants, and urban systems as subjects worthy of sustained visual investigation.

Holyoke, MA, USA

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