Andrew Bush, Vector Portraits @Yossi Milo

JTF (just the facts): A total of 23 digital c-prints, framed in white with no mat and hung in two rows in the main gallery. The images were taken between 1989 and 1997 and are printed in editions of 5. All of the prints are 30″ high, and range in length between 37″ and 67″. Each image is titled with the name of the road, the driving speed, the exact time, and the general location.(Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Andrew Bush’s portraits of people driving their cars along California highways have an almost anthropological feel to them, a study in American car culture and the public and private spaces our cars create for us. With a medium format camera and flash mounted to the passenger side of his car, he made consistent images of anonymous cars and their passengers as they traveled by, often at high speed. Most of the pictures capture the driver side door, the steering wheel, the back wheel, and of course, the driver, mostly staring forward, but often doing something else. Hung together, they create a Becher-like typology of forms, colorful variations from image to image helping to define the essence of the subject: the funky personalities of the people and their cars, the external signs of social classes, and the dated but somehow nostalgic styles.

Collector’s POV: The prints in this show are priced between $6000 and $10000 based on size. Only a couple of prints from this series have made their way into the auction markets, selling for approximately $2000 each. These images have a very strong warm weather American feel to them, and would therefore fit best in a collection of contemporary American color photography.