Robert Adams, Diane Arbus, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Eamonn Doyle, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Lee Friedlander, Nicholas Nixon, Ed Panar, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, Awoiska van der Molen, Henry Wessel, Garry Winogrand, and Vanessa Winship
The Grain of the Present
Pier 24 Photography
Pier 24, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105
April 1, 2017 – January 31, 2018
Now on view at Pier 24 Photography, The Grain of the Present features the work of ten photographers central to the Pilara Foundation collection—Robert Adams, Diane Arbus, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Lee Friedlander, Nicholas Nixon, Stephen Shore, Henry Wessel, and Garry Winogrand. The work of these photographers is united by their interest in the portrayal of everyday life, and by their development of distinctive visual languages within a documentary aesthetic. All of these photographers also participated in either New Documents (1967) at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, or New Topographics (1975) at the International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House, Rochester. For The Grain of the Present, the work of these ten photographers is paired with that of six contemporary photographers working in a similar vein: Eamonn Doyle, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Ed Panar, Alec Soth, Awoiska van der Molen, and Vanessa Winship. The work of these photographers shares motivations and techniques with that of their predecessors, but departs and expands as well, establishing distinctly new visual languages for the documentation of everyday life and the found subject.
Ed Panar, selected works from Walking Home (installation view, The Grain of the Present, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco). Courtesy of Pier 24 Photography.
Garry Winogrand, Women Are Beautiful, 1957-73 (installation view, The Grain of the Present, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco). Courtesy of Pier 24 Photography.
Eamonn Doyle, selected works from i, 2013 (installation view, The Grain of the Present, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco). Courtesy of Pier 24 Photography.
Lewis Baltz, Candlestick Point, 1984–88 (installation view, The Grain of the Present, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco). Courtesy of Pier 24 Photography.
Awoiska van der Molen, selected works (installation view, The Grain of the Present, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco). Courtesy of Pier 24 Photography.
