Robbert Flick at Robert Mann

(Click on images to enlarge)

On a whim last weekend (we were in the neighborhood), my family and a friend stopped by the Robert Mann gallery to see the work of Dutch photographer Robbert Flick, three series collectively titled "Trajectories." This work was previously shown at LACMA a few months back - further illustrating the erosion of differentiation between museums and galleries in NYC.

"Midwest Diary", completed in the early and mid 1970s reflects a minimalistic vision of the rural areas of Iowa where Flick was teaching at the time. Personally, it's very reminiscent of the plains of eastern Colorado, where my wife is from. Black and white, as is Flick's meditation on a parking garage, detailed work with a wide range of tones in large blocks of light and shadow.

But the most interesting work in the show is "LA Documents" (Or LA Diary, depending on where you look), a series of near-collage color landscapes of southern California beaches and sprawl. The linked example above does no justice to these images. Each piece is constructed of small images that make up a wholistic view of the subject area. There is some repetition of images, there is some hint of sequentiality. Flick started the project using traditional film photography, but eventually wound up using a video camera pointed out the window of his car. In a weird case of deja vu, Amazon.com has used a similar process to catalog street-level views of businesses in various cities around the US for use in their business directory. My office, for instance.

Flick is a professor at the University of Southern California. On his University site, he presents a number of his photos using a special compression technique, allowing the fine detail to be viewed in a Web browser. (As you can see by the example I've posted above, his latest approach makes ordinary Web viewing a bit fruitless.)

Through June 28 at Robert Mann Gallery
210 11th Ave (btwn 24th and 25th St)
(212) 989-7600