ROAD TRIP! - Upcoming Photography Exhibition at Crystal Bridges
The local Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art recently announced The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip, set to open in late February. The new exhibit will feature photography from the 1950's on, a perfect slice of time to explore how hugely influential America's car boom and the interstate system really was to US culture.
Numerous artists have riffed on the idea of being able to just pick up and go, the most famous probably being Beat Poet Jack Keroac's On the Road in 1957 (1969's Easy Rider might make the cut, too).
It's great to see Crystal Bridges doing something even mildly car related. Great cars have always walked the line between showcasing incredible artistry and accessibility. If you can drive, you can experience.
It's a great theme for a museum that values accessiblity (There's no entry fee for the main exhibit, though The Open Road might cost a few dollars as a temp exhibit, and the museum is pushing to include Spanish translations of all of the text in the museum. Not to mention the fact that they welcome kids).
If the press photos are representative of the exhibit, it looks like we're in for a real car-related treat.
Joel Meyerowitz
Florida, 1970
© Joel Meyerowitz, Courtesy of the artist and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
Stephen Shore
U.S. 97, South of Klamath Falls, Oregon, July 21, 1973
© Stephen Shore, Courtesy of the artist and 303 Gallery, New York
Todd Hido
#6097, 2007
© Todd Hido, Courtesy the artist Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York
Justine Kurland
Claire, 8th Ward, 2012
© Justine Kurland, Courtesy Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery, New York
Ever take a road trip? Tell us about it (and the car you drove).