|
 |
|||||||||
| Bill Owens: SUBURBIA October 25 – November 30, 2002 Artist Reception Friday, October 25 from 6 – 8 PM Photographs of the1970’s American suburbs by Bill Owens resulted in the now cult status book, Suburbia, which was originally published in 1973. This book documents a mixture of families living in their newly built tract housing thirty years ago. Photographs from this important essay are featured in the exhibition at PHOTOGRAPHS DO NOT BEND gallery. After World War II, Bill Levitt developed the concept of building cities like Ford produced cars. His Levitt Town in New York appealed to a new middle class that demanded affordable housing and a better living environment for their children. Factory built houses sprung up across the nation by the millions. Bill Owens documented one of these cookie cutter towns, Sunsetown, in California, the subject of this exhibition. These photographs reflect the lifestyle of that new middle class. Rows and rows of housing that look the same, but inside each family leaves their individual mark. Families with disposable incomes moved into their bright new future and started filling their new, empty homes with furniture, wall decorations, tv sets, and of course new cars – the ultimate status symbol. Remember shag carpeting, avocado colored appliances, block parties, neighborhood fireworks and Tupperware Parties? All are featured in this group of photographs that were originally meant to respectfully document the new bourgeois. This new way of life had its criticism. They thought suburban lives would become as indistinct as the housing they lived in. Some say it is worse now than ever. A new system of values and desires developed that resulted in the suburban mall and cinemas, the dependence on automobiles, fast-food restaurants and concrete freeway systems that exceed the imaginings of 50 years ago. PHOTOGRAPHS DO NOT BEND gallery is pleased to present this extraordinary photography exhibit and to also have Bill Owens here for the opening reception. Owens will also give a lecture about this series of photographs at the University of Texas at Dallas on Saturday evening, October 26th, 7 PM at Jonsson Performance Hall, Richardson, Texas. Details regarding the lecture are below. Bill Owens: Suburbia |
||||||||||
| This artist is featured in our BOOKSTORE. Visit the Bill Owens artist page. |
||||||||||
