L. Parker Stephenson Photographs presents an exhibition of Scott Hammond‘s Polaroids. An Ohio based photographer, Hammond (b. 1981) took trips around the country, from 2001 – 2010, making pictures with his grandparents’ Polaroid 660 instant camera of things that caught his eye along the way.
In this digital age, Scott Hammond’s work resonates with the prevalent urge for the quick snap, the selfie, proof that I Was Here. However, in contrast to the infinitely reproducable non tangible 1s and 0s of the digital file, the Polaroid (discontinued in 2008) offered a pocket sized unique artifact of a time and place. There is nothing particularly special about the subjects Hammond chooses, yet, out of an admitted compulsion to collect, along his trips to nowhere he gathers and accumulates bits of the rural and suburban American landscape; a small moment or sight he feels is worthy of being preserved. He calls it “idealizing the ordinary”.
Present in the images are echoes of Walker Evans’ obsession with signage and architecture, William Eggleston’s use of color, Stephen Shore’s choice of mundane scenes, as well as elements from other iconic American photographers’ work. In Hammond’s case, the Polaroid’s saturated colors and grainy images coupled with his humorous, odd or totally banal subjects, pre-framed in a small square format, present a singular vision that is simultaneously retro and contemporary in flavor.
In the rush of the city and of daily life one tends to pass by and overlook the details. Hammond reminds us, “It’s not just about getting from point A to point B but what’s in between… it’s life”.
EXHIBITION
The Lovely Road Journeys Through the U.S.A.
by Scott Hammond
April 10 – June 20, 2015
L. Parker Stephenson Photographs
764 Madison Avenue
New York
USA
