Unassuming Places in New York City's Manhattan and Astoria: Photographs by Jeffrey Saldinger
This book of 72 duotone black-and-white photographs of New York City comprises images from Saldinger's walks and bus, subway, and taxi rides in Manhattan and Astoria. Thirty-five of the photographs include people, thirty-seven do not. Some of the photographs that include people reveal their emotional states or allow a viewer latitude in their interpretation. But people also appear in images that may not be felt to have striking human content; these images contain only fragments of figures that serve as elements of the overall composition. The impact of the photographs that do not include people comes from the visual distinction that Saldinger seeks in familiar subjects including -- to name just a few -- bakeries, building facades, bus stops, coffee shops, crosswalks, food carts, subway stations, and views through shop windows. An attribute shared by all the images is their attempt to achieve timelessness. This is done by the intentional absence of mobile phones and other portable computer devices; of identifiable motor vehicles; and of easily dated clothing or other elements of personal style.
Jeffrey Saldinger paints, draws, and takes photographs. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1947 and earned graduate degrees in chemistry and library science from the University of Arizona in 1976. In 1980 he began to study art in New York City's galleries, libraries, and museums. After working in academic, business, and special libraries for many years, in 1997 he was able to begin focussing full-time on his creative life. The 1981/82 Guggenheim Museum exhibition of the works of Giorgio Morandi and the 2013 documentary film on Saul Leiter In No Great Hurry were of noteworthy importance to him, coming as they did as he was contemplating, first, pivoting from a career in business to focussing on art and, second, devoting more energy to photography and less to painting and drawing. He was strongly influenced by five years' study at the International Center of Photography. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in three one-person exhibitions and several group exhibitions in the United States and Europe. This is his first book of photographs. Jeffrey and his wife Willa Cox live in Astoria, New York.
Bibliographic information
Edition illustrated
Publisher Jeffrey Saldinger, 2021
ISBN 0578631067, 9780578631066
Length 168 pages
