In 1971, American photographer Stephen Shore made history. At the age of 23, he became the first living photographer to have a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By that time, the native New Yorker was well-established in his hometown, having sold his first work to the Museum of Modern Art at the age of 14 and spent his teen years documenting life inside Andy Warhol’s Factory.
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That same year, he embarked on a project that would change the landscape of photography forevermore: a decade-long series documenting “main street” America in a series of road trips. Positioning himself as an explorer, Shore purchased a safari-style suit from Abercrombie & Fitch, which he donned on his very first expedition. His was a deceptively simple mission: to make images that were the visual equivalent of ordinary speech.
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It’s been said a picture speaks a thousand words, but we’re usually thinking of who, what, where, when, and maybe why; how rarely enters our mind. But Shore was focused on not just the subject matter, the message, and the style — he wanted to preserve the very essence of vernacular America in the work itself. Using a large format camera, Shore captured the exquisite subtleties and extraordinary nuance of quotidian American life, which he later published in the groundbreaking monograph, Uncommon Places, 1973-1981 (Aperture, 1982).
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