After having presented House Hunting and Nudes in 2010, Todd Hido is returning to the Kaune, Sudendorf Gallery in Cologne with A Road Divided, a collection of pictures featuring diverse landscapes shot through his car windshield. The result: a rural world, shot through rain, dew, and snow, both terse and meditative.
The roads and highways appear blurred, empty and solitary. It is only after having taken photos for a long period that he makes a selection, from which emerge the ideas and topics he is going to develop next. The current series stems from a photo he took by chance: while driving on a rainy day, Hido stopped at an intersection and the water from the car roof rushed down the windshield, creating a spontaneous blurry effect.
During an interview, the artist commented that Gerhard Richter’s painting had influenced this series. A Road Divided contrasts with previous work, leaving behind clarity and precision, opting for a more intimate, painting-like approach. The wet windshield acts as a filter, tracing a limit between the inside and the outside, dividing the warm interior of the car from the emptiness and coldness of the snowy fields.
Born in 1968 in Ohio, Todd Hido studied at the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University and at the California College of Arts and Crafts. His pictures are featured in the Whitney Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, George Eastman House and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He lives and works in San Francisco.
Sebastian Messina
