JEFFREY PHILLIP BISHOP

 

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The American landscape echoes the experiences of adventure, frontier, independence, and self reliance. There is a sense of utilitarianism. Isolation and aloneness are also part of this American experience. Many times I find a duality; places of snug intimacy seem also haunted and empty . Like Walker Evans I find a beauty in the commonplace, in the American vernacular. Store fronts, gas stations, diners, streets, and other ordinary subject matter are my interests. This phenomena interested me as a young child. I would try to imitate the night urban landscape by turning off the lights and running my electric trains in a room lit only by the model street lamps.

A group of photographers in the 1970s looked back at the frontier where the natural landscape of the American West was invaded by contemporary man-made phenomena. I attempt to look back at a different frontier; where the mid 20th century industrial landscape dissolves into the post industrial 21st century landscape.

Currently I am working on a photographic portfolio of night images of Wallingford, Connecticut and its neighboring areas. Wallingford reminds me of childhood visits to towns in the coal regions of eastern Pennsylvania; towns with such names as Hazleton, Lehighton, Mauchunk, Palmerton and Slatington.