Items Similar to Tucumcari, New Mexico, December, 1989
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5
Steve FitchTucumcari, New Mexico, December, 1989 1989
1989
About the Item
In American Motel Signs Steve Fitch crisscrossed the United States documenting the colorful dynamic, advertisements inviting weary traveler to park their car and pack it in for the night. Tinged with nostalgia, these delightfully garish motel signs lovingly recall a mid 20th Century road culture speaking to a sense of independence and freedom central to the contemporary American identity. A trained anthropologist, Fitch’s approach to American Motel Signs is almost scientific. Images of a single subject are crafted with and observational distance and a democratic square frame inviting viewers to compare regional differences in detail, design, and landscape under the umbrella of a single society seemingly focused on fun, travel, and leisure. For Fitch much of his photographic work was inspired by childhood family road trips from Northern California to South Dakota and continues to focus on what the artist has termed the ‘vernacular of the journey’.
- Creator:Steve Fitch (1949, American)
- Creation Year:1989
- Dimensions:Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:15 x 15Price: $650
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Framing:Framing Options Available
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Sante Fe, NM
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU13428058472
Steve Fitch
After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in anthropology, and while teaching photography at the ASUC Studio on the Berkeley campus, I began work on a project photographing the vernacular roadside of the American highway. I received two National Endowments for the Arts Fellowships to aid in the completion of this project, one in 1973 and the second in 1975. Eventually, the photographs were published in the monograph, Diesels and Dinosaurs, in 1976. After receiving a master's degree in fine arts from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1978 I accepted a teaching position at the University of Colorado in Boulder. In 1981, as a member of the "Marks and Measures" project, I began photographing prehistoric Native American pictographs and petroglyph sites in the American West. This project was partly funded by the last National Endowment for the Arts Survey Grant awarded in 1981. My work on the project, along with that of the other four project members, was published in a monograph, Marks in Place: Contemporary Responses to Rock Art, by the University of New Mexico Press in 1988. I received several purchase awards in various exhibitions for photographs made during this period. Partly as a result of the work I did for Diesels and Dinosaurs, I became interested in the artistic possibilities of neon and learned to fabricate my own neon pieces in 1981. I have made a number of neon installations over the past thirty years, several of which are permanently located in outdoor locations in New Mexico. In 1990, after teaching at Princeton University for four years in the Visual Arts Program, I returned to New Mexico and began photographing the ongoing abandonment of the high Great Plains receiving the Eliot Porter Fellowship from the New Mexico Council for Photography in 1999 to aid in the completion of this project. In 2003 a book of these photographs entitled Gone: Photographs of Abandonment on the High Plains was published by the University of New Mexico Press and a traveling exhibition of the photographs was organized by the University of New Mexico Art Museum. The entire exhibition of forty photographs was purchased by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Since 1990 I have taught photography at the College of Santa Fe. Today, my wife and I live off the grid in a passive solar adobe house we constructed ourselves over six summers, beginning in 1984, on rural land in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. We use photovoltaic panels to meet all of our electricity needs and collect water in an extensive rainwater gathering system. Recently, I finished a project photographing in the Llano Estacado region of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. My work on the project, as well as that of five other photographers, was partly funded by a grant from the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University and will be published in an upcoming monograph by Texas Tech University Press.
About the Seller
5.0
Vetted Seller
These experienced sellers undergo a comprehensive evaluation by our team of in-house experts.
Established in 1993
1stDibs seller since 2015
213 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 11 hours
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Sante Fe, NM
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- Glenlivet 162, limited edition color photograph, signed and numberedBy Ernie ButtonLocated in Sante Fe, NMGlenlivet 162, limited edition color photograph, signed and numbered For much of my adult life, photography has provided me a forum to communicate my past & present, my humor & con...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- Loading Zone, Color Photograph, Archival Pigment Ink Print, signed and numberedBy Julie BlackmonLocated in Sante Fe, NMLoading Zone is from Julie Blackmon's ongoing series Domestic Vacations. Domestic Vacations: The Dutch proverb "a Jan Steen household" originated in the 17th century and is used to...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- Woman at Window, 2013, limited edition photograph, signed and numberedBy Richard TuschmanLocated in Sante Fe, NMWoman at Window, 2013, limited edition photograph, signed and numbered Hopper Meditations is a personal photographic response to the work of the American painter, Edward Hopper. My images are created by digitally marrying dollhouse-size dioramas with live models. The sets I built, painted and photographed in my studio. I then photographed the models, and lastly, made the digital composites in Photoshop. I have always loved the way Hopper’s paintings...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- Pink Bedroom (Family), limited edition photograph, signed and numberedBy Richard TuschmanLocated in Sante Fe, NMPink Bedroom (Family), limited edition photograph, signed and numbered Hopper Meditations is a personal photographic response to the work of the America...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- Woman Reading, 2013, limited edition photograph, signed, archivalBy Richard TuschmanLocated in Sante Fe, NMWoman Reading, 2013, limited edition photograph, signed, archival Hopper Meditations is a personal photographic response to the work of the American painter, Edward Hopper. My ima...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- Woman in Sun I, 2012, limited edition photograph, signed, and numberedBy Richard TuschmanLocated in Sante Fe, NMWoman in Sun I, 2012, limited edition photograph, signed and numbered Hopper Meditations is a personal photographic response to the work of the American painter, Edward Hopper. My...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
You May Also Like
- DrumsBy Jamie HinceLocated in New York, NY16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- SickBy Jamie HinceLocated in New York, NY16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- Jamie "Flash"By Jamie HinceLocated in New York, NY16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- Alison MosshartBy Jamie HinceLocated in New York, NY16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- LA Hotel RoomBy Jamie HinceLocated in New York, NY16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
- The Beatles, 1967By David MangusLocated in New York, NY16x20” Limited Edition Next available edition printed upon purchase. Other sizes available. Please allow 4 weeks for production.Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Color Photography
MaterialsArchival Pigment
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Mexico Mid Century Art
Midcentury Art Mexico
South Dakota
Retro Nostalgia Art
Dakota Landscape
Vintage California Road Sign
Motel Sign Vintage
Retro Retro Motel Signs
Retro Motel Signs
Retro Motel Sign
Mid Century Car Photography
South Dakota Landscapes
Photography Vintage Umbrella
Vintage Inspired Umbrella
Vintage Travel Advertisements
J Freud
Charles E Martin
Photos Of Robert Mapplethorpe