Jeff Brouws (born 1955) is a
documentary photographer who resides in
Upstate New York.
Early life
Brouws was born in San Francisco, California.
Photography
Brouws, using myriad photographic approaches—from narrative stand-alone images to groupings of typologies—has spent the last 27 years visually exploring the American cultural landscape from a historical and socio-economic perspective. His subject matter includes: nuclear weapons and their past and present legacy, vernacular roadside architecture, the franchised landscape of big box stores and strip malls, suburbia, inner city environments, de-industrialized / post industrial cities of the northeast, and the contemporary and historical railroad landscape. With an affinity for what cultural geographers classify as TOADS (temporary, obsolete, derelict, abandoned sites) Brouws's practice involves what he refers to as "visual anthropology." Initially inspired by New Topographic photographers like
Robert Adams,
Joe Deal and
Lewis Baltz
Lewis "Duke" Baltz (September 12, 1945 – November 22, 2014) was an American visual artist, photographer, and educator. He was an important figure in the New Topographics movement of the late 1970s. , he also counts the photography of
Walker Evans, Camillo Jose Vergara,
Bernd and Hilla Becher,
Ed Ruscha,
Mark Ruwedel
Mark Ruwedel (born June 11, 1954) is an American landscape photographer and educator.
His books include ''Westward the Course of Empire,'' depicting the remains of abandoned railway lines in the landscape of the western United States and Canada; a ...
, and
Allan Sekula as important touchstones.
Since the early 1990s his work has also been intellectually informed by the writings of cultural geographers, historians and social critics like J.B. Jackson,
John Stilgoe,
Dolores Hayden
Dolores Hayden is an American professor emerita of architecture, urbanism, and American studies at Yale University. She is an urban historian, architect, author, and poet. Hayden has made innovative contributions to the understanding of the soc ...
,
Leo Marx
Leo Marx (November 15, 1919 – March 8, 2022) was an American historian, literary critic, and educator. He was Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is known for his works in the fiel ...
and
Mike Davis. These writers provided for Brouws "a conversion experience to a new way at looking at the built environment.”
Publications
In 1992 Brouws self-published a book homage to the artist Ed Ruscha entitled ''Twentysix Abandoned Gasoline Stations,'' referencing Ruscha's ''
Twentysix Gasoline Stations
''Twentysix Gasoline Stations'' is the first artist's book by the American pop artist Ed Ruscha. Published in April 1963Edward Ruscha Editions, Engberg, Phillpot, Walker Art Center, 1999 on his own imprint National Excelsior Press,Edward Ruscha ...
'' (1963).
He has had several other books published of his own work including ''Highway: America's Endless Dream'' (1997); ''Inside The Live Reptile Tent: The Twilight World of the Carnival Midway'' (2001); ''Readymades: American Roadside Artifacts'' (2003); and ''Approaching Nowhere'' (2006). He is also the editor and co-author (with Hermann Zschiegner, Wendy Burton, Phil Taylor and Mark Rawlinson) of ''Various Small Books: Referencing the Various Small Books of Ed Ruscha'' (2013).
In additional he has authored or co-authored four books on railroad photography featuring the work of other artists. These titles include: ''Starlight On The Rails,'' Harry Abrams, 1999; ''A Passion for Trains: The Railroad Photography of Richard Steinheimer,'' W. W. Norton, 2004; ''The Call of Trains: Railroad Photographs'' by Jim Shaughnessy, W. W. Norton, 2008; and ''Some Vernacular Railroad Photographs,'' W. W. Norton, 2013.
His work has also appeared in ''Harper’s,'' ''
The New Yorker,'' and ''
The New York Times Magazine.''
He has lectured as a visiting artist at:
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
,
Texas State University,
School of Visual Arts,
Kenyon College, St. John Fischer College,
Williams College,
San Jose State, the
Museum of Photographic Arts, and Vassar College.
Exhibitions
His work has been included in over 25 solo exhibitions and a similar number of group shows including two iterations of Ed Ruscha: Books & Co., which appeared at the
Gagosian Gallery, New York City and the Brandhorst Museum Munich, in 2013.
* ''Approaching Nowhere,'' Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 2006. (solo)
* ''Typologies,'' Yancey Richardson, New York, NY, 2011. (solo)
* ''Typologies, Projects & Portfolios 1991-2016,'' Robert Mann Gallery, New York, NY, 2016. (solo)
Collections
Brouws' work can be found in numerous public collections including:
The Whitney Museum of American Art,
The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Fogg Museum,
Princeton University Art Museum, the Henry Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the
J. Paul Getty Museum (9 prints, as of September 2019).
Awards
Brouws is the recipient of two awards from the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society: the George and Constance Hilton Book Award given for A Passion for Trains: The Railroad Photography of Richard Steinheimer in 2005; and the John H. White Fellowship for research on southern railroad photography in 2013.
Books
* ''Highway: America's Endless Dream.'' Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1997.
* ''Inside The Live Reptile Tent: The Twilight World of the Carnival Midway.'' Chronicle, 2001. With a text by Bruce Caron.
* ''Readymades.'' Chronicle Books, 2003.
* ''Approaching Nowhere.''
W. W. Norton, 2006. With a text by William Fox.
* ''Twentysix Abandoned Gasoline Stations.''
* ''Some Vernacular Railroad Photographs.''
* ''Various Small Books: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha.'' MIT Press, 2013. Edited and co-authored with Hermann Zschiegner, Wendy Burton, Phil Taylor and Mark Rawlinson.
References
External links
*
americansuburbx websiteurbanautica websitePhaidon websiteAlexander Craghead blogsite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brouws, Jeff
21st-century American photographers
20th-century American photographers
Photographers from San Francisco
1955 births
Living people