Twelve Tribes Community, Basin Farm, Bellows Falls, Vermont, June 2005 C-print, 26.5 x 33.25 inches Joel Sternfeld Sweet Earth Haines Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new work by Joel Sternfeld entitled "Sweet Earth". In this new body of work, Sternfeld continues his practice of chronicling the American landscape, rendering a visual history of the disparate and little understood phenomenon of social experimentation in America. Each of the photographs of "Sweet Earth" documents the site of a historic or present-day community that sought, or continues to seek, the utopian ideal. In the brief text that accompanies each photograph, Sternfeld describes the most salient aspects of the community's mission and success. The utopian community ideal has taken root in America over the past 200 years and is firmly present in modern society. Between 1810 and 1850, hundreds of secular and religious societies were established. In the 20th century, experimentation began again with significant activity in the 1960s, some of which still survive and continue to flourish today. The 1990s and the early years of the new millennium have become yet another hotbed of social experimentation. The co-housing movement is sweeping America with at least 70 communities fully completed and occupied and numerous others planned as well as the rapid global expansion of sustainable communities known as ecovillages in America. Haines will have on view some of the seminal images from the series including well-known sites such as the "General Sherman Tree" in Sequoia National Park, the "Gesundheit! Institute" in West Virginia and "Leonard Knight at Salvation Mountain" in Slab City, California. In April 2006 a new publication will be released by Steidl Publishing, that includes all 60 images in the project with their associated text. Joel Sternfeld's work has been widely celebrated and his influence is international in scope. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Citigroup Prize. His work is collected and exhibited in museums and private collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Exhibition: March 30 - May 6, 2006 Gallery hours: Tues-Fri 10:30am - 5:30pm, Sat 10:30am - 5:00pm Haines Gallery 49 Geary Street, Suite 540 USA-San Francisco, CA 94108 Telephone +1 415 397-8114 Fax +1 415 397-8115 Email info@hainesgallery.com www.hainesgallery.com |
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