by Joel Sternfeld
Vivid and fascinating collection of
photographic portraits that documents the changing
American landscape.
Reviewed by: A.J. Kohn
About A.J. Kohn
Joel Sternfeld's 'Stranger Passing', a collection of
sixty photographic portraits, is an art book worth
having. This is high praise since I generally find
art books to be nearly useless. Bought with the best
of intentions, they usually wind up unopened and
coated with a layer of dust. Besides, they're
oversized and don't fit on any of my bookshelves. You
need to have an Architectural Digest type living room
with an attractive smoked glass coffee table to really
pull off the art book thing. It's not that I might
not like, say, a Van Gogh art book, but I can get a
print and have it on my wall where it can truly be
appreciated. Or I can buy a calendar and each month
marvel at a different masterpiece.
'Stranger Passing' is not the typical art book because
you can't find Sternfeld's work in your local mall.
And since buying it I have found myself pulling it out
and flipping through it more then a few times. I
happened upon Sternfeld's work by accident during an
Ansel Adams exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of
Modern Art (SFMOMA). Adams' work is beautiful, but I
found that I'd seen too many of his prints in dorm
rooms, hung by co-eds striving for culture. This
combined with the dawning realization that, while
striking, many of Adams' photographs told the same
general story - the beauty of nature.
Clogged with people and unsatisfied I wandered into a
room with huge nearly life size portraits, which upon
closer inspection weren't paintings at all but were
actual photographs! I was drawn in immediately by the
detailed, quirky, truly gorgeous photos that showcased
a variety of people and landscapes. The subjects were
from all walks of life and one photo would convey the
harsh realities of the homeless while another would
poke fun at excess or expose eccentricities.
I found myself thinking about the people in the
photographs, creating stories about who they were,
what they were thinking, what had brought them to that
specific time and place. If you've ever
people-watched, you know exactly what I mean.
Each photo tells a story. The cover photo of
'Stranger Passing' is titled 'Young Man Gathering
Shopping Carts' and portrays a teenager - blond bob
cut hair, open button-down shirt, loosened tie -
standing in a parking lot cluttered with pink shopping
carts, an all too familiar generic strip mall as the
backdrop. You can feel his discontent and nearly hear
the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure looking dude
grumbling as he collects the carts and pushes them
over the pot-holed parking lot.
The juxtaposition of a colorful sari wrapped
middle-eastern woman pumping gas or newlyweds posing
in a backyard with a flipped over kiddie pool are
engrossing. Some of my favorites in the collection
include; a young shirtless man standing in front of a
colorful demolition derby car; a bald man in a biking
shirt, smiling baby strapped to his chest with two
ocher colored dogs at his side; and a poofy haired
young woman clad in a cotton candy colored jacket
holding her pet rabbit in a plastic carrying case.
You don't need a guide to help you understand these
photos. No pompous, overly academic explanations
about brush strokes or f-stops are required. Vivid,
accessible and fascinating, 'Stranger Passing' is a
sprawling collection that documents the changing
American landscape through the experiences of
Sternfeld's subjects.
Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Stranger Passing
Copyright © by A.J. Kohn, 2002
Reviewed by A.J. Kohn:
-- Motherless Brooklyn - by Jonathan Lethem
-- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - by Douglas Adams
-- Stranger Passing - by Joel Sternfeld
-- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - by Michael Chabon
-- Bloodsucking Fiends - by Christopher Moore
-- The Long Rain - by Peter Gadol
Home
-------
All the Reviews