About the artist
Mark Swope is a photographer. He lives near Los Angeles, California, a land where American myths are deeply rooted, and where they have slowly turned to dust under the watchful eye of many photographers. An America of rampant urbanization, of “non-places”, extensively portrayed by American photography in the 1970s. Mark Swope’s work, although dating from the 1990’s and 2000’s, is very much in line with the investigations of photographers displayed together at the now-famous New Topographics exhibition, hosted in 1975 at the George Eastman House in Rochester, featuring artists such as Bernd and Hilla Becher, Stephen Shore, Nicholas Nixon, Robert Adams… The exhibition was a turning point in the history of photography in that it witnessed, in a deliberately documentary style, changes in the contemporary landscape. All of Swope’s work reflects the same interest in places dominated by artefact. Nature, when it does appear in the image frame, has been geometrically “pruned”. The artefact itself - whether work of architecture or billboard - is depicted as an obsolete relic of a bygone age, where all that remains intact is the palm-tree lining of the city’s broad avenues.
Interview
Could you tell us about your background? How did you get into photography? The
house that I grew up in was full of black & white photographs as my
father, John Swope, was a photographer throughout his life. My
background and education was in painting and installations although I
used photography throughout these processes. In the mid 90’s, I started
to archive my father’s photographic collection and while doing so I
moved away from painting and into photography as my full time endeavour.
What is your relationship towards American photography of
the 1970's, specifically that of California, which dealt with the
exploration of contemporary landscapes at a time of ever-expanding
urbanization, and its collateral effects? I was introduced in
the early 90’s to the work of Robert Adams along with John Gossage and
Frank Gohlke. I was much intrigued by the quiet subject matter that
created a tension of wanting to go deeper into the image as well as the
environmental concerns they carried.
You live in Santa
Monica, most of your photographs are taken in California. One often says
that working with one’s own close environment is the most difficult
subject for the photographer's eye. How would you define this territory?
And why does it inspire you?I remember being in downtown Los
Angeles and staring in wonderment at the old buildings, our history in
architecture, and how quickly it can disappear in our ever-changing
landscape. I realized that being a native of Los Angeles, I knew so
little of my surroundings, and then started out on random treks around
the city, discovering and rediscovering a place my father documented in
the 1930’s.
In Sign Structures you deal with a mythical symbol of the American landscape: the ad sign. How did you approach it?I
was fortunate to gain access to the rooftops of some of the old
historic signs in LA while working with the Museum of Neon Art. As we
now carry so much information at our fingertips with computers, phones,
etc. these massive signs have been rendered useless for their original
purpose of communication and setting landmarks. The idea of
photographing them from above was to show the signs’ vantage point and
their perch above the city.
Foliage and Structures
is the most graphic series you have done. The architectural elements,
as well as the natural, once shaped by man and somehow turned into an
artefact because of its stylization, function as signs. The
Foliage and
Structures
series seemed a very straightforward decision/direction for me. It’s
very intuitive and not to sound too simplistic, it comes down to walking
around and being able to see what there is to be seen.
Limited edition, numbered and signed.
Selected shows and awards
Foliage, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2012
The Los Angeles River, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2010
Paint & Memory - Photographs of New Orleans 2003-2005, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2006
Elysian Fields, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2005
Foliage, VeniceArts Gallery, Venice, CA, 2004
Selected Work, Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2003
L.A. Sign Structures, Museum of Neon Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2003
Collections :
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
N.R.D.C., Santa Monica, CA