Vanish
Jim Westphalen
Curated by Bruce Brown
August 21 - October 11
Featured Artist
About the Show
Jim Westphalen has always had an affinity for the built landscape. In this 20 plus year body of work, Westphalen explores the “beauty in decay” of disappearing iconic structures across rural America. The buildings that are the very foundation of our country’s rural heritage, the ordinary and the extraordinary. In a race against time and battle against the elements, he travels the country in search of these fading gems, collecting the stories and visually preserving as many as possible before they completely vanish from the American landscape.
“The aspiration to capture the ‘souls’ of these structures, is in some ways, like chasing ghosts; unearthing impressions of long-ago labors, people, and experiences. For all these structures were once a part of someone’s dream.” To some extent, this work is also driven by mortality. Not only the ephemerality of the buildings, but of life itself.
Inspired by such painters as Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper and A. Hale Johnson, Westphalen’s imagery not only celebrates this time-worn character, but also strives to honor those who came before and their deep connection to the land. May these photographs encourage us to see the unacclaimed beauty and appreciate these fading treasures; not only for what they once were, but for what they have now become. For sadly, most will eventually surrender and fold into the soil upon which they were built, taking their stories with them.
For historical information about the properties featured in these photographs, click HERE.
Preview the Exhibition
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