The Romance of the Road: Photographs in Search of the Promised Land |
| Click on Photos for Slide Show |
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January 11 – April 11, 2010 |
Some folks might sa-ay that I’m no good
That I wouldn’t settle down if I could
But when that open ro-oad starts to callin’ me
There’s somethin’ o’er the hill that I gotta see
---Ramblin’ Man by Hank Williams
THE EXHIBIT
There is something appealing and exciting about getting in a car and driving across the country. For many, the American highway is still a sacred yet mysterious space. Even familiar destinations can lead to new and unexpected situations.
In the great American automobile tradition of Jack Kerouac, Robert Frank and road films from It Happened One Night to Two-Lane Blacktop, the artists in The Romance of the Road have created both still and video images that document their own personal experiences, relationships, and discoveries—both good and bad—that have unfolded on the open road. Some of these works show the effects the economy and high gas prices have had on the road journey in the 21st Century.
Over the years, many photographers have found themselves standing in the center of the highway and taking what has now become an iconic image of the road as it disappears into the horizon. These images, although compositionally similar, are all different in terms of the emotional response one might experience when viewing them.
The Romance of the Road explores what any freeway continues to offer someone who is tired, weary, or feels as though he or she may have fallen off the track; it offers a chance to dream about a better place, and possibly a better life, that may be at the other end.
