Brian Ulrich, a photographer from Chicago, Illinois spoke at our Artist Lecture today. He has many accomplishments - he’s a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship Award of 2009, and he’s had his work shown in many museum collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.
Ulrich, not quite the most conceptual artist I’ve listened to before, started off with his current work including his “Dark Stores, Ghostboxes, and Dead Malls” collection. Not to be scathing, but that title explains my preceding statement. Urlich shot this collection with an 8x10 camera at abandoned retail stores/sites – keeping the shutter open for long exposures. He played an audio clip to draw the audience’s attention to the type of setting that he shoots and the people he meets when he shoots at these locations.
He then went on to show some of his earlier work from 2001. Urlich’s first collection “Copia” was a reaction to 9/11. He admitted that after the attack that his first instinct/desire was to connect with people and try to recapture the moment when the planes hit the twin towers. Because of his concern for the financial system of the United States, Urlich states that he captures the dead retail stores to get across his visual language for citizens to keep shopping and boosting the economy…
While this concept may seem obvious, or a cop-out, I did like some of his images – especially his newer things. There was a clear lack of reasoning behind some of his work, and I say that simply because he spent his time explaining the images instead of getting into the why or how.
Overall he held my interest – but I was also itching to get out after I realized he didn’t have a whole lot more to say about his work. I wish he did! I liked what I saw.
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