By finding the interface between nature and culture that exists in these so-called paradisal environments, Laurie Brown takes us on a modern version of a well-worn path in Western civilization: the pushing out of the city that emerged in ancient Greece and Rome and extended beyond the city walls of medieval Europe to today's political boundaries nestled beside nature's undeveloped frontier. But at what cost? Like the ruins of Pompeii, Brown's hauntingly beautiful photographs reveal how well (or not) we have creaed a modern American Eden: Las Vegas.

Brown, Laurie. "Las Vegas Periphery, Views from the Edge." George F. Thompson Publishing, 2013. (Flyleaf)

This work was donated by the artist to Scripps College as part of the Museum Project, which was created by artists for artists to donate works to the permanent collections of museums and university museums of art. The founder of the project, photographer Robert von Sternberg, described the project’s beginnings. “Basically the idea for the project originated in a desire to thank, in general, the institutions that have shown a supportive commitment to photography as a fine art media.” With photographer Darryl Curran, and Tim Wride, curator, Norton Museum, von Sternberg fleshed out the idea. “We discussed the influential artist photographers that we believe were pivotal in the transition away from the era of ‘traditionalism’ and had solid connections to the Southern California photographic art world, post 1965,” von Sternberg said. Curran and von Sternberg then contacted a number of artists they believed fell into that group.  As of September 2013, only 11 months after its inception, $560,000 of artwork had been placed in museums and university museums of art.
Source: Conversations and email exchanges and with Robert von Sternberg by Williamson Gallery Staff, September 26, 2013

On the back of the print, in black ink: lower left, title and year; on the lower right, the artist's signature.

ink on paper

This object has the following keywords:

• Landscapes
• Museum Project

This object is a member of the following portfolios: