Press Release:

LARRY SILVER/ SUBURBAN VISION
16 May - 27 July 2002

The Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition SUBURBAN VISION by noted Photo League photographer LARRY SILVER. This thirty-year essay focuses on the physical and social landscape of an evolving metropolitan suburb. While reflecting upon the suburban topography of Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz, as well as the satirical social depictions of Garry Winogrand and Bill Owens, Suburban Vision is representative of a cohesive vision that is both unique and accessible.

Larry Silver began photographing the streets and subways of New York City in 1949 at the age of 15. Silver studied photography at the High School of Industrial Art, New York (1949-53). The School's proximity to Peerless Camera Stores enabled Silver to meet numerous members of the Photo League, including W. Eugene Smith, Weegee and Lou Bernstein, who became a strong influence on his work. In Silver's senior year, he won first prize in the Scholastic-Ansco Photography Awards and was granted a scholarship to the Art Center School, Los Angeles (1954-56). During visits to the Santa Monica Beach, Silver photographed the local weightlifters, body builders, and acrobats. This celebrated series "Muscle Beach" (1954) was the subject of a solo exhibition at the International Center of Photography in 1985 and again in 1999 at the Los Angeles County Angeles County Museum of Art.

Upon moving from New York City to Westport, Connecticut in 1973, Larry Silver began his ambitious document Suburban Vision. "The city streets and subways that supplied the inspiration for my photographs were traded for country roads and beaches. I saw an opportunity to capture a both a lifestyle and a landscape that were previously foreign to me as a native New Yorker," Silver recounts. Photographs such as "Beach Showers" 1980 and the "Jogger" 1979, depict isolated human figures in strongly composed graphic environments. This body of work is stylistically reminiscent of his Photo League material, yet demonstrates the evolution of his lyrical and balanced compositions that would define Silver's trademark style.

Larry Silver's work is currently in over 20 museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Brooklyn Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Art Gallery, and George Eastman House. His work was also included in the recent publication "This Was the Photo League". A newly released catalogue entitled Suburban Vision accompanies this exhibition.

The Bruce Silverstein Gallery is devoted to fine vintage and contemporary photography. It is located at 504 West 22nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues). Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 AM to 6 PM. For further information, please contact Bruce Silverstein at 212-627-3930 or inquires@brucesilverstein.com.