Open Eye Opening its New Liverpool Gallery Photographic Show by Mitch Epstein

Written by Graeme Woodbury Tuesday, 01 November 2011 23:44

Liverpool, UK.- Open Eye is proud to present American photographer Mitch Epstein’s first solo show in the UK, as the opening exhibition at their new Waterfront gallery. "American Power (2003-9)", on view from November 5th through December 23rd,  examines how energy is produced and used in the American landscape, questioning the power of nature, government and corporations. Mitch Epstein will be present for a very special breakfast talk at the gallery on November 5th. A second 'archive exhibition will feature Chris Steele-Perkins' photographic portrait of England in the 1980s. "Chris Steele-Perkins - The Pleasure Principle" will also be on view from November 5th through December 23rd.

Epstein was awarded the prestigious Prix Pictet photographic award in March 2011 for this body of work, which offers a radical reflection on “the American Dream gone awry”. The project began in 2003 when Epstein photographed a small town in Ohio after compulsory land purchase by the American Electric Power company. He went on to document 25 US States over a period of six years, producing a prolific body of work that depicts the effects of mass consumption. Highly regarded internationally for his outstanding work with colour photography since the 1970s, Epstein’s provocative images capture, with meticulous detail, the foundations of life in a society driven by ideals. Born in 1952, Mitch Epstein studied at The Cooper Union in New York under the professorship of Garry Winogrand. His photographs are in numerous museum collections including New York’s Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the UK’s Tate Gallery.


Recent solo exhibitions of Epstein's work were at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris (2011) and Kunstmuseum Bonn (2011); the Musee de l'Elysee in Lausanne (2011) and Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool (2011). Epstein's eight books include Berlin (Steidl & The American Academy in Berlin, 2011); American Power (Steidl, 2009); Mitch Epstein: Work (Steidl, 2006); Recreation: American Photographs 1973-1988 (Steidl 2005); and Family Business (Steidl 2003), which won the 2004 Kraszna-Krausz Photography Book Award.Mitch Epstein currently lives in New York. He is represented by Thomas Zander Galerie in Cologne.

Launched in 1977, Liverpool’s Open Eye was one of the UK’s first dedicated photography galleries. Excluded from the programmes of art galleries, photographers and others with an interest in the medium established their own network of galleries in the 1970s and ‘80s, drawing on newly-available funds from the Arts Council and a growing sense of photography’s artistic, social and political potential. Open Eye emerged as part of an organisation called the Merseyside Visual Communications Unit (MCVU), which was established in 1973 with a mission to “make more people aware of the many positive ways in which film, photography, video and sound recording can be used in a social, cultural and educative context”. Over the years, the gallery have had a number of temporary homes, but have consistently presented world class exhibitions. From 2004 Open Eye’s increasingly international programme combined work by emerging and established artists, frequently presenting UK debut exhibitions. In mid-2009 Open Eye entered the main phase of a major capital relocation project, maintaining an interim programme of partnership exhibitions and pilot projects. The gallery will open at its new premises on the Liverpool Waterfront in November 2011. The new gallery is located in the heart of the Liverpool Waterfront, between the Pierhead and the Albert Dock, directly behind the new Museum of Liverpool and a short walk from the city centre and other major attractions. Visit the gallery's website at ... http://www.openeye.org.uk

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