Stephen Shore’s American Surfaces: The Beauty in the Ordinary and Mundane of America’s Most Overlooked Places
Thesis & Background
Thesis and Background Page
I chose Stephen Shore’s American Surfaces to explore themes of the beauty of the ordinary and mundane as well the the universality of American life. Shore was born in New York City in 1947 and was deemed to be a prodigy in photography. Shore studied under Edward Steichen and Andy Warhol which greatly influenced his artistic choices. He had a camera in his hands from the time he was 6. Shore hosted a solo exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the age of 24. He was the first living photographer granted this type of exhibition at the museum. More about Shore’s life can be found here.
American Surfaces is a collection of the people, places, and items that Shore met while primarily exploring the southern and south-western parts of the United States. His work captured the parts of America that garner little attention from the rest of the world, earning the nickname of fly-over states. His goal for the expedition was to capture “‘[E]verything, everyone’”(8). In an interview with Phaidon, Shore recognized the loneliness that his photos capture in the collection. He described them as “ [I] did huge road trips, but particularly with American Surfaces it was a diary of my life, but it was about my life focused on the purpose of making the pictures about my life.”
The goal of Shore was to document America as he saw it through everyday objects, and he unknowingly created art that captured everyday American life. Shore sent his film to be develop in color at Kodak which was quite expensive in the 1970s, so he had to be deliberate about each photo he took. Shore would study everything he wanted to photograph and selected the one angle that best captured the image. More can be read from Shore’s interview with Phaidon here.
From the Jewish perspective, Shore wandered around the country with no discernible destination on his road trip which was similar to how Exodus Jews wandered the deserts for 40 years in Exodus. Shore’s road trip and the photos that result merged everyday life with the artistic quality that photos bring to a conversation about relevance of popular culture in art. Shore’s work challenged what is an artistic photograph and what is documentary. A case could be argued that Shore and Roman Vishniac shared similar goals of establishing an ethnographic eye. Shore worked toward the American ethnographic eye; whereas, Vishniac worked toward the Jewish eye. Shore captured and preserved the life and culture of areas not traditionally seen by the rest of the country.
Methodology
Methodology
Shore sought to understand American life through the commonalities of things. When going through the photobook, there was a familiarity in everything despite him having never seen it before. Using his 35mm Rollieflex camera, he used point and shoot photos to capture the people, places, and things that he saw on his journey throughout the country.
He sent his film to be developed back in New York to be developed. All the photos that he took were developed by Kodak. He had a limited budget and had to be selective about what pictures that he chose. He would study his subjects and decide on what singular best shot to take.
Shore had over 350 negatives by the time his odyssey had ended, and the ones that spoke the most to him became American Surfaces. What Shore found on his voyage across America was the beauty in the mundane.
There is nothing special about a toilet or the contents of a barren fridge, but there is something special when the viewer recognizes their own life in the photo. When I saw the barren fridge from London, I looked at my own and saw that mine was no better containing a half eaten sandwich and limes that been sitting there since August.
All of his photos in American Surfaces captured this stillness and tranquility that life seldom has. We never stop to actually look at the storefronts on our street or the plates in front of us. Every day life is special because everyone has experienced a fridge like the one above.
My approach to mirroring Shore’s style will be capturing everything I see. I want to capture the aspects of life and the people in it that make life special. I want to capture sunrise on E Liberty Street, and the Beer Depot sign on Packard. I plan on capturing the people who are important to my life who are with me on the journey.
I planned on capturing storefronts and hotels. I wanted to capture new experiences and places that a stranger would be able to recognize as something they know from their own life like Shore did. I think that there is a certain beauty in knowing that no matter where you are there are people just like you. For me, I recognized the man from Pontiac looked exactly like my friend. I had to capture the universality of the expression.
Photo Analysis
Photo Analysis
I wanted to show my life through the everyday surfaces that I see and come into contact with. Shore would study and look at every possible angle before deciding on what picture he wanted to take. He had to see all possible parts of the surface. When I realized his intention, I realized that I had been doing something similar in my own life. Shore did not take 10 photos of an item and decide which one he liked best after the fact; rather, Shore had to study this ordinary items and know what the best decision would be for him and for his art.
When I took my photos, I had to look at the everyday aspects of my life and really see what made them exceptional. The painting on the side of the electrical box is something that I walk past every day yet never really thought about until I had to take photographs of my surroundings. I inspected everything in my life to find the beauty in the ordinary.
I found myself taking photos of animals almost as often as I took photos of people. I loved photographing my dog. He was the least cooperative model. However, if I could find him being still long enough to get a good photo, the picture was always great. I think Shore may have encounter similar problems as animals can be finicky models.
The most difficult part of the assignment was taking the photos of people. I had to overcome the initial awkwardness of asking if I can put my camera in their face and take a photo of them for a school project. Yet with each person, it became easier. I was able to develop a catalogue of up close and personal shots of the people who are with me on my journey. Shore’s journey was one across America, and my journey is one through academia, trying to finish in four years despite a rather late in the game major change.
A few years ago, I made an odyssey like Shore across America. Starting east of the Mississippi River, I ventured west to Wyoming going through the most beautiful landscapes I had ever seen, stopping in some of the grossest gas stations, and seeing some of the greatest oddities (like Jesus of the Wheat outside Wichita, KS).
I think the universal recognizability of American Surfaces is similar to the universality of the American Jewish experience. I have traveled all over the country growing up. Regardless of where I was from Los Angles to New York City to Duluth, MN to New Orleans, LA when I found another Jewish kid, there was immediate recognition. Neither of us said anything, but we knew and became friends quickly. I felt the same way toward the photos in American Surfaces. I had never seen anything in the book prior, but there was a recognition of self in the work.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Shore provided a realistic look at America. He traveled the country by air and by land and discovered that despite being so large, America has so much in common. There is a perceived common ground in the mundane that no one talks about, yet Shore was able to capture such universal things like street corners and pantries, both full and empty.
There was a beauty in the universality that he captured. I found myself laughing when I could make a direct correlation between Shore’s America and my own 50 years later.
Shore captures ideas of new experiences and the stranger through the universality of shared experience. He worked to find the beauty of the ordinary and mundane as well the the universality of American life in small towns and big cities.
My greatest regret is not knowing about the work of Stephen Shore earlier in my life. I really identified with Shore’s work. I found his photos of the mundane inspiring. I loved what he was able to do with every day objects.
As Shakespeare is often quoted, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Shore captured very few things that could be considered extraordinary or special; however, every photo he decided to put in his book was filled with beauty because of the universal recognizability. This universality to the subjects made this book such a success and an icon of American photography.
Sources
Sources
https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/stephen-shore?all/all/all/all/0
http://www.gilblank.com/texts/essays/amersurf.html
Ben,
This is an excellent opening statement regarding Stephen Shore and his book, American Surfaces. I like your attention to his Jewishness. You might also consider attention to the title of the book itself: what does looking at surfaces let you see? Is it just mundane or do surfaces themselves reveal more about the modifier of the word, namely, “American.” In other words, rather than do what Robert Frank did in trying to understand Americans through photographing people, Shore opted for the surfaces.
Good labeling of the photographs. Please put the links to your sources with the quotes so that a reader can read more if desired. You don’t need the link to the publisher’s page.
DDM
Ben,
Shore sent his photos to be developed and printed to a commercial firm, rather than doing it himself. With film, you can’t look at “proofs” until the film has been developed and at least a contact sheet prepared. Shore left the decision regarding color correction in the developing to a commercial firm as part of his approach to just looking at surfaces.
I don’t know about the beauty of his photographs. What’s beautiful about toilets? Leftover food? You need to explain where you see the beauty.
Why do you want to photograph things that are familiar? Shore went to unfamiliar places. You need to think about how you are going to make the familiar unfamiliar in order to take pictures that work.
DDM
Ben,
These are a good start but most of the shots are too distant, except for the fire extinguisher and the fridge and your friend. Keep taking photos. You need to get closer so that you are picturing surfaces.
DDM
Ben,
You added a lot of good photos and got in closer. I like your titles very much. “Feeding the masses” is an excellent photo and one that, I dare say, is beautiful in the way that you found Shore’s photographs. Yes, it’s not easy asking someone if you can take their photo. But that’s what photographers do (except when someone was sleeping, as you observed). I’m glad, also, that you started to notice things you had never previously observed.
Take a look at Selina’s project on Shore for a very different take emphasizing the road trip.
DDM
Ben,
It’s a brief conclusion but a fine one. You return to both the universalism of the mundane in Shore’s work and the ways that it speaks to you. And you took some really cool photos as a result. DDM