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Larry Sultan ha
catturato l’attenzione internazionale per la prima
volta nel 1992 con “Pictures from home”. Sultan
ha scavato non solo nel suo patrimonio familiare e
domestico ma anche nel sogno americano e nella terra
promessa dove è cresciuto: la California. Le
fotografie della serie “The Valley”, realizzate
nella San Fernando Valley della sua fanciullezza e
adolescenza, rivelano quella che oggi è diventata
un rifugio per le riprese di films pornografici
americani. In queste fotografie a colori di grande
formato Sultan documenta la vita di ogni giorno sul set.
“The Valley” è un’incursione nella
trappola del porno, ripresa nella volgarità delle
case suburbane, nel distacco degli attori professionisti
che si prendono una pausa. Lo scopo è mostrare
l’incredibile banalità dell’universo del
porno fiction. Con colori brillanti Sultan esamina la
strana bellezza e l’ambiguità delle immagini
che riflettono dettagli mondani, scene domestiche e
contatti umani, mettendo in luce la profondità di
questi soggetti apparentemente banali. Sultan ha rivolto
il suo obbiettivo non alla natura lasciva di tali
immagini ma ai margini del film -making: la folla,
l’attrezzatura, il cast e la confusione del set sono
i protagonisti delle sue fotografie.
Larry Sultan first drew
attention in 1992 with “Pictures from Home”.
Begun in 1983 this enormous project drew on old family
material and more contemporary portraits, at once
intimate and objective, of his own parents. In addition
to this task of love and memory, Larry Sultan was also
delving into the American Dream and the promised land
where he grew up: California. “The Valley”, his
most recent series of photographs, were taken in the San
Fernando Valley of his childhood and adolescence, which
has since become a haven for American porn movie-making.
In these large format colour photographs he documents day
to day life on the set. “The Valley” is an
incursion into the porn trap, life between takes, the
vulgarity of the suburban houses, the detachment of the
professional actors “taking a break”. The focus
is the astonishing banality of the porn fiction universe.
With brilliant, saturated colours, Sultan examines the
strange beauty and ambiguity of these scenes which
reflect worldly details, domestic scenes and intimate
relationships, underlining that beyond the banal surface
lies a much deeper message. Sultan has turned his lens
not to the raunchy nature of these images but to the
margins of the film-making: the crowd, equipment, the
cast of characters, and the confusion on the set become
the true focus of his photographs.
LARRY
SULTAN
BIOGRAPHY
BORN
1946
New York
EDUCATION
1973
M.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute
1968
B.A., University of California
SELECTED ARTWORK
AWARDS
1999-2000
Flintridge Foundation Award for Visual Artists
1997
Society of Environmental Graphic Design, Award of
Merit
1996
Haas Foundation, Creative Work Fund Award
Marin Arts Council, Artist Fellowship
1992
National Endowment for the Arts, Photography
Fellowship
1991
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award
1990
Oakland Cultural Arts, Public Arts Award
1989
Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship
California Arts Council, Art in Public Buildings
1988
Englehard Award, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston,
MA
1986
Marin Arts Council, Artists Fellowship
National Endowment for the Arts, Photography
Fellowship
1983
Guggenheim Fellowship
1980
National Endowment for the Arts, Photography
Fellowship
1978
California Arts Council, Special Projects Grant
1977
National Endowment for the Arts, Photography
Fellowship
1976
National Endowment for the Arts, Art in Public Places
Grant
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1996
"Larry Sultan: Pictures From Home," Bronx Museum of Art,
NY
1995
"Larry Sultan: Pictures From Home," Scottsdale Center
for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ
"Larry Sultan: Pictures From Home," The Corcoran Gallery
of Art, Washington, DC
1994
"Larry Sultan: Pictures From Home," The Corcoran Gallery
of Art, Washington, DC
"Larry Sultan: Pictures From Home," Chicago Cultural
Center, Chicago, IL
"Larry Sultan: Pictures From Home," Museum of
Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
1992
"Larry Sultan: Pictures From Home," San Jose Museum of
Art, San Jose, CA
1990
The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
1989
Headlands Center For The Arts, Sausalito, CA
Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
1987
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1983
Film in the Cities, St. Paul, MN
1982
University of Colorado Art Gallery, Boulder, CO
Portland School of Art, Portland, ME
1981
Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR
Light Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1978
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
1977
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
1974
University of California Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1972
Ohio Silver Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED GROUP
EXHIBITIONS
2000-2001
"The Perpetual Well: Contemporary Art from the
Collection of the Jewish Museum," traveling exhibition:
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and
Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE;
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY; Huntington Museum of
Art, Huntington, WV
2000
"Immodest Gazes," Fundacio "la Caixa," Barcelona, Spain
"Capturing Light: Masterpieces of California
Photography, 1850-2000," Oakland Museum of California,
CA
1999-2000
"ModernStarts: Places," The Museum of Modern Art, New
York, NY
"Bay Area Now 2," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San
Francisco, CA
1999
"California Classics: Highlights from the Collection of
the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art," traveling
exhibition: Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; Fukui
City Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama,
Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts
"Into the 21st Century," Selections from the Permanent
Collection, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
"Fathers and Sons," PARTS Photographic Arts,
Minneapolis, MN
"The American Lawn Surface of Everyday Life," The
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
"25/25," Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
1998
"Under/Exposed," Stockholm Underground Station,
Stockholm, Sweden
"California Landscapes: An urban/Rural Dialogue," Triton
Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
1997
"People in Real Life;" A Public Art Project @ Stoneridge
Mall in Pleasanton, CA
"Police Pictures: The Photograph as Evidence," San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art
"Family and Friends," Museum of Contemporary
Photography, Chicago, IL
" Hope," The National Arts Club, New York, NY
" Marin Arts Awards Exhibition," Falkirk Gallery, San
Rafael, CA
"Scene of the Crime," Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles,
CA
1996
"To Keep Her Countenance," Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San
Francisco, CA
"The Familial Gaze," Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth
College, Hanover, NH
"Picturing Modernity, Apects from the Permanent
Collection," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA
"Photography as a Reflection of Time," Corcoran Gallery,
Washington, DC
1995
"Home Is Where...," Weatherspoon Art Gallery,
Greensboro, NC
"A Selection of Photography By Gallery Artists, "
Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"We Look and See," University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
"Death and The Family," Presentation House, Centre for
the Visual and Performing Arts, Vancouver, Canada
"AlterEgo," Amsterdam Center for the Arts, The
Netherlands
" Inaugural Exhibition," San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, San Francisco, CA
"Spirit of Play," Union Station, New York, NY
"Moving the Message: Activism and Art," SF Camerawork,
San Francisco, CA
"La Matuere, L'Ombre, La Fiction," Bibliotheque
Nationale de France, Paris
1994
"Big Shots/Little Shots," Transamerica Pyramid Lobby,
San Francisco, CA
1991
"Imaging the Family: Photographs by Tina Barney, Lorie
Novak, and Larry Sultan," List Art Center, Brown
University, Providence, RI
"Group Show," Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Blood Relatives, " Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
"Photography As Idea: Conceptual Photography of the 60's
and 70's," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA
"Summer Selection, " Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, NY
"Pleasures and Terrors, of Domestic Comfort," Museum of
Modern Art, New York, NY
1990
"Recent Collaborations," Northlight Gallery, Tempe, AZ
"Re: Memory, The Work of Lorie, Novak, George Kruse,
Larry Sultan and Anne Turyn," Birmingham Museum of Art,
Birmingham, AL
1989
"Witness," Fuller Gross Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Nature and Culture," Friends of Photography, San
Francisco, CA
"Real Life Fictions: Photographs of Bill Dane, John
Harding and Larry Sultan," San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, San Francisco, CA
"California Photography: Remaking Make-Believe," Museum
of Modern Art, New York, NY
1988
"The Swimmers," Burden Gallery, New York, NY
"Suburban Visions, Middle-Class Dreams," Muckenthaler
Community Center, Los Angeles, CA
"Cross Currents/Cross Country," San Francisco
Camerawork, San Francisco, CA;
and Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
"Collaborations, "Gallery at the Plaza, Security Pacific
Corporation
1987
"Photography and Art: Interactions Since 1946," Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and Fort
Lauderdale Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL
1986
"Photo-Graphics," University of Colorado Gallery,
Boulder, CO
1985
"The Swimmers, "Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY
"New Color Photography," Museum of Modern Art, New Yor,
NY
"Signs of the Times, " San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, San Francisco, CA
"Les Immateriaux" Musee National D'art Modern, Centre
Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
"Art and Advertising," Center for Contemporary Art,
Seattle, WA
"ART," Area Night Club, New York, NY
"Family as Subject Matter in Contemporary Art,"
Washington For the Arts, Washington, DC
"Playing it Again: Strategies of Appropriation," Santa
Fe Center of Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
"American Images, 1945-1985," Barbican Art Gallery,
London, England
1984
"The Collection of Sam Wagstaff," International Center
of Photography, New York, NY
"Photography in California: 1945-1975, "San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA
1983
University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
1982
"Color As Form: A History of Color Photography,"
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and the
International Museum of Photography at Eastman House,
Rochester, NY
"A Few French Gestures," Paris Bienniale, XXIIeme,
Paris, France
"Beyond Color," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA
"20th Century Photography From the Museum of Modern Art,
Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1981
"Attitudes" Photography In the Seventies, " Santa
Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1979
Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
1978
Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles,
CA
"Project Interstate 5," San Jose, University Art
Gallery, San Jose, CA
1977
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco,
CA
1976
"Conceptual Photography," La Mamelle Gallery, San
Francisco, CA
"Contemporary Photography," Fogg Art Museum, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA
COMMISSIONS AND PUBLIC PROJECTS
1996
San Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco
International Airport
1994
San Jose Cultural Arts, "Five Skaters"
Public Art Works, Artist in Print Project, "Have You
Seen Me?"
Continental Insurance Corporate Headquarters,
Continental Center, New York
1993
Oakland Cultural Arts, "Pool," Defermery Pool, Oakland,
CA
San Francisco Art Commission, "Art in Transit"
1989
California Arts Council, Art in Public Building,
California State Archive Building
"White Corn Meal," painted billboard, Oakland, CA
1988
"Japan," painted billboard, Los Angeles, CA
1985
"We Make You Us," billboard, traveled to 10
locations
1983
"You're So Easily Influenced," billboard, Ramapo, NJ
1980
"Whose News," billboard, San Francisco, California
"Oh La La," billboard, Boulder, CO
1978
"Ties," billboard, San Francisco, CA
"Obey the Law," billboard, San Francisco, CA
"They Came to Shoshone," billboard, Shoshone, ID
1976
"Electrical Energy Consumption 1966," billboard,
traveled to 20 locations
"Kansas Counties," billboard, traveled to 20 locations
"Alaska: Tectonic Features," billboard, traveled to 20
locations
1975
"Oranges on Fire," billboard, 10 locations
SELECTED ARTICLES &
REVIEWS
2000
"The Art of Boredom," The New York Times Magazine, April
9, pp. 74-76.
"Flintridge announces award winners," Artweek, May, p.
2.
Lozano, Amparo. "Viaje a un mundo interior,"
Fotografica, April, pp. 10-13.
1999
"Sunset Porno and the Seamy, Steamy Suburbs. A Sneak
Peek Behind the Scenes in Everyday L.A.," Vogue Hommes
International Mode, Spring/Summer, pp.130-144.
1998
Graves, Donna. "People in Real Life Suburbia,"
Sculpture, April, pp. 18-19.
1997
Thym, Jolene."A perfect exhibit for an imperfect world,"
Valley Herald, August 9
1996
Goldberg, Vicki "The Snapshot, History's Modest Helper,"
The New York Times, June 16
1995
Patterson, Tom. "Thought-Provoking Exhibit Examines
Meaning of Home," Winston-Salem Journal, September 17, p.
E2
Rinehart, Bettie, "Mom-and-Pop Art," New Times, June 9,
1995, pp. 65-66
Dicker, Kiana. "Larry Sultan's Pictures From Home,"
Blast, May/June 1995
Vroege, Bas, & Herst, Deanna, "The Autobiographie
Realism in Recent Photography and Media Art," Perspektief
Quarterly Photography Magazine, No. 49
Mader, D.H. "Family Values," Perspektief Quarterly
Photography Magazine, no. 49
Blind Spot, "Larry Sultan: The Sailor Who Fell From
Grace," Issue #5
1994
Schultz, Suzy, "Family Pictures Tell a Multitude of
Stories," Chicago Sun Times, October 9
Thall, Larry. "Larry Sultan's Photos Raise an Old
Question: Whose Life Is It Anyway?," Chicago Tribune,
October 7, Section 7
Pincus, Robert L. "Portrait of the Home Folks:Poignant
Family Essay," The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 13, p.
E6
1993
Tanner, Marcia. "A Hunger for Each Other's Stories,"
Camerawork, vol. 20 no. 2 Fall/Winter 1993
Tanner, Marcia. "Poolside Manners," Artnews, October
Aletti, Vince. "Family Viewing," Village Voice, July 9,
p. 61
Porges, Maria. Art Issues, March/April
White, Robin. "Larry Sultan," Artweek, January 7
1992
Tanner, Marcia. "All in the Family: Photographer Larry
Sultan Stays Close to Home in Search for Truth," San
Francisco Chronicle, December 13, p. 45
1991
Plagens, Peter, "Pleasures and Terrors, " Newsweek
Magazine, October 25
Russel, John. "A Volatile Mixture of Mediums," New York
Times, July 14
1990
Liu, Catherine. "Interview with Larry Sultan," Bomb
Magazine, Spring
1989
"Photography," The New Yorker, July 17
Mufkin, Liz. "Exposed Realities," San Francisco
Chronicle, May 14
Muchnic, Suzanne. "Remaking Make-Believe in California,"
Los Angeles Times, July 21
Grundberg, Andy. "Further Developments in the California
State of Mind," New York Times, July 23
"The Worlds Greatest Photographs 1980-1990," Life
Magazine
1988
Dubin, Zan. "Walking U.S. Up to a New Rising Sun," Los
Angeles Times, October 16
Brown, Betty Ann. "Joining Together in Strength,"
Artweek, November 11
1987
Sultan, Larry. "Reflections on a Home Movie," Aperture
Magazine, Summer '87
1985
Richards, Paul. "Remembrances of Families Past,"
Washington Post, May 25
Glowen, Ron. "Art and Advertising," Center of
Contemporary Art Folio, June 1985
1983
Liss, Andrea. "Subjective Objective," Artweek, May 28
Fisher, Hal. Artforum, September
1982
Sobieszek, Robert. "Color as Form," Camera Arts,
September
1981
Johnstone, Mark, "Conveying the Intangible," Artweek,
May 2
Au, Anita. "Interview with Larry Sultan," PhotoArt
Magazine, Hong Kong, November
1980
Livingston, Kathryn. "Larry Sultan," American
Photographer, August
1979
"Evidence," Journal of Visual Anthropology, Temple
University, January
Eliot, David. "Evidence," Chicago Sun Times, November
18
1978
Scully, Julia. "Seeing Pictures," Modern Photography,
April
Davis, Douglas. "Harvard's Challenging Evidence,"
Newsweek, May 8
Coleman, Alan. "Is it Time to Stop Believing
Photographs?," Camera 35, October
1977
Thomas, Lew. "Photography and Ideology," Art
Contemporary, vol. 8
Thornton, Gene. "New York Joys - A Prague Disgrace," New
York Times, December 25
Thornton, Gene. "Evidence," Artnews, November
Lifson, Ben. "Modern Dreams," Village Voice, September
11
Heinecken, Robert. "Open and Shut Case," Afterimage, May
Gross, Fred. "Evidence," Photograph, July
Barndse, Henri Man. "Evidence," Exposure, December
1975
Czarnski, Joe. "Replaced, The Structure of Myth,"
Artweek, November 15, 1975
Desmarais, Charles. "Junk Jazz," Afterimage, April
1974
Murray, Joan, "Immersion," Artweek, November 16
BOOKS &
CATALOGUES
1999
California Classics: Highlights from the Collection of
the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, exhibition
catalogue published by APT International Inc., pp.
107-109
Kimball, Cathy. Into the 21st Century, Selection from
the Permanent Collection, San Jose Museum of Art
1992
Sultan, Larry. Pictures From Home. New York: Harry N.
Abrams, Inc.
1991
Bamberger, Tom. Blood Relatives, Milwaukee Art Museum
Galassi, Peter. Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic
Comfort, The Museum of Modern Art New York
1990
VARI Studios. Recent Collaborations, Arizona State
University
1989
Kismaric, Susan. California Photography: Re-Making Make
Believe, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1988
Tucker, Ann. Cross Currents/Cross Country. San Francisco
Camerawork and Boston Photographic Resource Center
1987
Grundberg, Andy and Kathleen Gauss, Photography and Art:
Interactions Since 1946, New York: Abbeville Press
1985
Irmas, Deborah. Signs of the Times: Some Recurring
Motifs in 20th Century Photography, San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art
1984
Katzman, Louise. Photography in California: 1945-1975,
New York: Hudson Hills Press
1981
Thomas, Lew and Peter D'Agostino. Still Photography. The
Problematic Model, San Francisco: NFS Press
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York , NY
Frods Regional D'art Contemporain, Lyon, France
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The National Museum of Art, Washington, DC
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
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