Lee Friedlander @ Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Lee Friedlander: Signs
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
July 11 - August 17, 2019

LEE FRIEDLANDER 

Newark, New Jersey, 1962 

© Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Fraenkel Gallery presents LEE FRIEDLANDER: SIGNS, an exhibition examining the five-decade long obsession of this highly influential photographer. Since the early 1960s, Lee Friedlander has focused on the signs that inscribe the American landscape, from hand-lettered ads to storefront windows to massive billboards. The exhibition is accompanied by a 144-page hardcover book published by Fraenkel Gallery.

Made in New York, San Francisco, and dozens of cities and small towns in between, Lee Friedlander’s photographs record milk prices, cola ads, neon lights, road signs, graffiti, and movie marquees. Depicting these texts with precision and sly humor, Lee Friedlander’s approach to America transcribes a sort of found poetry of commerce and desire. A large majority of works in the exhibition will be shown for the first time.

Also on view will be a group of 16 early Lee Friedlander prints, made on the road in the 1970s, on travels across the United States.

LEE FRIEDLANDER (born 1934) began photographing in 1948. His work was included in the influential 1967 exhibition New Documents at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, curated by John Szarkowski. His many monographs include Self-Portrait; Cherry Blossom Time in Japan; Letters from the People; At Work; and Sticks and Stones, among others. One of the most important living photographers, Lee Friedlander’s prints are held by major collections including the Art Institute of Chicago; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and Whitney Museum of American Art, among many others.

LEE FRIEDLANDER: SIGNS

Hardcover

120 pages, $75

Fraenkel Gallery, 2019

Opening reception with the artist: Thursday, July 11, 5:30-7:30pm
Book launch and signing with the artist: Saturday, July 13, 1-3pm

FRAENKEL GALLERY
49 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108
www.fraenkelgallery.com