ABOUT FORTY YEARS
ABOUT FORTY YEARS
CREDITS
Nicholas Nixon (1947, USA) has always worked with a large-format camera, with negatives measuring 8×10 or 11×14 inches. The purpose of this is to include every minute detail of the subject in order to capture life with ultimate precision. The artist revels in variation of surfaces and textures and the specific characteristics that give his subjects life, resulting in a feeling of intimacy between the photographer, subject and viewer.
The images shown here, About Forty Years, are a selection from Nixon’s eponymous exhibition and book, spanning four decades of his work and focusing on his recurring themes, including portraits of the very young and very old, and cityscapes close-up and from afar.
Whether shooting a newborn baby or fallen leaves on a porch, Nixon’s images capture momentary fragility and seem to suspend time, yet also evidencing the palpable consciousness of time’s passage. He captures unique gestures of his subjects and fascinating detail in the everyday, as he says: “The world is infinitely more interesting than any of my opinions about it.”
About Forty Years will be on display at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco from September 10 to October 24, 2015. A book of the same title has been published to accompany the exhibition.
