Mitch Epstein: Recreation

(Hardback)

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Between the 1970s and '90s, Mitch Epstein photographed the rituals of excess and alienation, jubilance and desire that defined late twentieth-century America. These pictures marked the beginning of his photographic inquiry into the American psyche and landscape that has now lasted half a century. Recreation captures the vitality of modern America in a pre-smartphone, less self-conscious time. In these early works, Epstein's wit reigns, along with his singular way of making the mundane startle and the extraordinary appear to perfectly fit in. This new edition expands on the original Recreation book published by Steidl in 2005. More than a third of these photographs have never been published, and all of them have been re-worked with fidelity to the pictorial quality of the films of the era.

Reviews

His psychologically probing pictures document our many leisure activities, but they also find something deeper: the ache of fun--those awkward, alienating, uncomfortable moments at the edge of the good times.--Bill Shapiro "Esquire"
Epstein's wit reigns, along with his singular way of making the mundane startle and the extraordinary appear to perfectly fit in.-- "L'Oeil de la Photographie"
Evokes oppositional and unlikely moments...Indeed there is something wholly uninhibited about his subjects in Recreation.--Lydia Figes "AnOther"
In 2005, he published the landmark 2005 monograph, Recreation (Steidl), which he now revisits, expands and remasters for a fascinating portrait of America between the 70s and 90s during the final years of analogue life.--Rosen Sara "i-D"
The dynamic and inspired photographs speak for themselves, and the sequencing brings everything together.--Aaron M. Cohen "The Parallax Review"

Author Bio

A pioneer of 1970s art photography, Mitch Epstein has photographed the landscape and psyche of America for half a century. His awards include the Prix Pictet, the Berlin Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and he was recently inducted into the National Academy of Design. Numerous collections hold his work, including the Museum of Modern Art and Tate Modern; in 2013, the Walker Art Center commissioned a theatrical rendition of his "American Power" series. Epstein has described the cultural and physical evolution of the United States from 1973 to 2019 in his Steidl books Family Business (2003), Recreation (2005), American Power (2011), New York Arbor (2013), Rocks and Clouds (2017), Sunshine Hotel (2019), Property Rights (2021) and In India (2021).