Alan Thomas
|
http://www.alan-thomas.com
|
Alan Thomas was born in West Berlin, raised in Virginia, and lives in Chicago. He graduated from Princeton University, where he studied photography with Emmet Gowin and Frederick Sommer. He also holds an M.Phil. in English Studies from Oxford University. His writings on photography have appeared in the New Art Examiner and In These Times. He is an editorial director at the University of Chicago Press.
|
Short Statement:
Chicago Self-Park These photographs are about the form and evolution of a great city as seen from one its most easily overlooked structures: the self-park garage.
Self-park garages mirror the native geometry of Chicago with something like a vernacular prairie style. Their ramps slant across horizontal apertures through which the city organizes itself in ways drivers are usually too hurried to notice. Their roofs—accessible by elevator to any pedestrian with a few minutes to spare—are the secret, democratic skydecks of Chicago. At the same time, these garages serve a particular vision of the city's future, coexisting uneasily with the infrastructure of public transportation and with the agendas of preservationists.
The Chicago Self Park series grows out of a recent urban landscape project in the cities of Japan. In the course of my explorations there, I became interested in how automobiles inhabit and transform our spaces. People throughout the world make extraordinary accommodations for their private vehicles. How we fit automobiles into our structures and routines says a great deal about us as individuals and as a society.
For a video of me discussing Chicago Self-Park in connection with a summer 2009 exhibition at Catherine Edelman Gallery, click here. See also this blog post by Chicago Tribunue architect critic Blair Kamin.
|
Alan Thomas has participated in the following Op Shops:
1 |
| 
|
