July 2022 AIR: David Rothenberg
We are excited to share the work of our July Artist in Residence - David Rothenberg
Learn more about their practice and how ritual and repetition in images are important to their work.
Q & A
Q: RITUAL AND REPETITION SEEM IMPORTANT TO YOUR IMAGES. IS RITUAL A VITAL PART OF YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE? WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK TO THE EXACT LOCATIONS?
Ritual and repetition are important aspects of the way I photograph. My tendency to return to photograph the same locations is likely a natural progression and movement away from my years spent photographing in a much more wandering manner. This process of revisiting enables me to become more attuned to my subjects while allowing time and chance to help guide the direction of my projects.
Q: I FEEL THAT IMAGES CAN BE MEDITATIONS ON AN OVERLOOKED PLACE. WHAT DRAWS YOU TO THE MUNDANE?
I have been drawn to the mundane because as you said, it tends to be overlooked. I love looking at old magazines for this reason for example. The advertisements and other peripheral ephemera have such a short shelf life and largely disappear from our historical memory. Yet in retrospect, this material is often far more interesting than the articles and provides a remarkable insight into the culture. I find the same to be true in photographing subjects that are considered to be mundane and are often overlooked.
Q: YOUR OTHER PHOTO SERIES ARE REMINISCENT OF OTHER ART FORMS LIKE THEATER AND/OR PAINTINGS. ARE YOU INSPIRED BY OTHER FORMS OF ART?
I definitely tend to make these connections to other artforms while photographing. I love the experience of leaving a movie or an exhibition where the director or artist’s vision lingers with you and basically recalibrates your vision and changes the way you see.
Q: HUMOR AND INTIMACY GO HAND IN HAND IN YOUR PHOTOS. WHAT GOES INTO BRIDGING THOSE TWO TOGETHER?
I think that humor and intimacy naturally go hand in hand. In recent projects, I’ve made candid photographs of people who have no real expectation of being photographed. My subjects are in a sense vulnerable and I hope that the humor in my images will be interpreted as a form of reverence.
Q: WHAT BOOKS, TV, MUSIC, ETC., ARE YOU CONSUMING RIGHT NOW?
Books: Tamara Shopsin’s Laser Writer II, TV: Joe Pera Talks with You, Music: Destroyer
DAVID ROTHENBERG
David Rothenberg is a photographer and educator living in New York. In recent years, Rothenberg has made his home borough of Queens the subject of several major projects. He has produced two books of his work with the publisher ROMAN NVMERALS including Landing Lights Park (2018) which TIME named one of the best photography books of the year. Rothenberg was the recipient of the PHOTO 2021 x Perimeter International Photobook Prize for his most recent book, Roosevelt Station (2021). In 2020, Rothenberg had a solo exhibition at the Print Center in Philadelphia and has participated in recent group exhibitions at the Museum of the City of New York and the Aperture Foundation Gallery in New York.
Rothenberg’s photographs have been written about and published in The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Libération, Vogue, Die Zeit, and The New Yorker. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of the City of New York and numerous library special collections including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Rothenberg received an MFA from Bard College and a BFA from Parsons School of Design.