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Gerry Johansson – American Winter
6 January – 9 February
Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen presents Gerry Johansson – American Winter.
American Winter is the third exhibition by Swedish photographer Gerry Johansson (born 1945) at Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen.
Last winter Gerry Johansson travelled the hamlets and deserted towns of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. In these often-forgotten fly-over states, Johansson pointed his camera at abandoned homes, deserted main streets, disused factories, gas tanks, oil pipelines, silos and churches. Johansson managed to capture both the serene beauty of a white church bathing in a snow-covered landscape and the melancholy of bare trees along a highway that seems to be heading nowhere.
Johansson’s visit to the Michigan town of Pontiac (2010) and the subsequent book by that name, meant his breakthrough to a wider audience. Before, he worked as a graphic designer, publisher and as the assistant to Gunnar Smoliansky. Johansson’s work is closely related to that of the New Topographics, in particular to that of Robert Adams and Lewis Baltz.
Johansson’s books can be considered the key to his oeuvre. If you examine them closely, you’ll notice a number of things: Johansson always works in black and white, preferably visits deserted regions that have experienced an industrial decline or economic downturn, his pictures rarely feature people – if any at all – and he organizes his images alphabetically by place name. The alphabetical order and the uniform design of his books lend his work a strong signature and ensure the places Johansson visits become somewhat interchangeable. As a series, American Winter works as a visual essay about stillness and beauty in areas where beauty is not up for grabs. With each separate photo Johansson demonstrates his skill and keen eye for composition.
Gerry Johansson will be present at the opening and will be signing American Winter (Mack, 2018). The photographer is available for interviews. Opening: Saturday, 12 January 2019, 5 – 7 pm.
The exhibition American Winter is on from 12 January through 9 february.
Open from Thursday to Saturday from 12 to 6 pm.
For interview requests and further information, please contact Wouter van Leeuwen.
+31 (0)6 520 315 40 | info@woutervanleeuwen.com | www.woutervanleeuwen.com |@galeriewoutervanleeuwen
Selected works
Artist
