The photographer Phillip Buehler has devoted his career to exploring obsolete sites, what he calls “modern ruins.” Captured in states of evocative decay, his subjects have included an abandoned psychiatric asylum, a Cold War missile silo and an offline power plant.
In late 2019, Buehler's body of work on view in the exhibition “Mallrat to Snapchat: The End of the Third Place” — at Front Room Gallery, in New York — may have elicited more nostalgia than the others. It was a look at New Jersey’s defunct Wayne Hills Mall and, by extension, at the dying culture of middle-class suburban shopping centers across the country.
"I started photographing abandoned places the same year the mall opened, 1973, when I was a senior in high school," Buehler told The Study. "At the time, New York was falling apart, with empty piers and abandoned or burned-out buildings everywhere. Back then, nobody was photographing them, so I had no art references — most were cinematic. Two films released in 1968 made a big impression on me: 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes."
Browse a collection of Phillip Buehler's photography on 1stDibs.
| Average Sold Price |
| $2,000 |
| Styles |
| Materials |
| Related Artists |
$1,850
H 18 in W 24 in
"Thunderbolt" a limited edition photograph from Coney Island, 1997
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
18"x24" limited edition historic photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts The Thunderbolt roller coaster, which was built in 1925, abandoned in 1982, and demolished 2000. It ...
Photographic Paper
$6,500
H 40 in W 60 in
"Dream City" historic photograph Manhattan's Twin Towers World Trade Center 1974
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
40"x60" limited edition historic photograph, edition 1/5. This historic photograph depicts the recently completed World Trade Center shot from tip of Ellis Island in 1974. The mist w...
Photographic Paper
$6,500
H 40 in W 60 in
"Registry"historic photograph Ellis Island, 1974 abandoned site, large scale
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
40"x60" large scale limited edition historic color photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts an abandoned immigration station (which closed in 1954) where 13 million immigrant...
Photographic Paper
$1,850
H 18 in W 24 in
"Registry" a limited edition photograph from Ellis Island, 1974 abandoned site
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
18"x24" limited edition historic photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts an abandoned immigration station (which closed in 1954) where 13 million immigrants were registered ...
Photographic Paper
$3,500
H 30 in W 40 in
"Dream City" historic photograph from Manhattan's Twin Towers, 1974
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
30"x40" limited edition historic photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts the recently completed World Trade Center shot from tip of Ellis Island in 1974. The mist was only t...
Photographic Paper
$3,600
H 30 in W 40 in
"F-106 Delta Darts, AMARG, Arizona" Color Photograph, limited edition
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
In Buehler’s color photograph from a military airplane storage yard in Arizona, the F-106 Delta Darts parked in alignment, their silver tails recede into the...
Archival Pigment
$3,250
H 30 in W 40 in
"Registry - Ellis Island 1974" Contemporary Photograph, from Islands of New York
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
30"x40" limited edition photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts the interior of the then abandoned Ellis Island registry taken in 1974", featured in "Islands of New York" photographic series. Phillip Buehler is a New York based photographer who documents the deterioration and remnants of neglected architecture constructed in the recent past. In the series “No Man is an Island...” Buehler has photographed the historic, and also often forgotten islands, around New York City. Some of them, like Ellis Island, loom large in their impact on history, culture and existence in the national identity. Others, like “Rat Island,” a privately-owned 2.5 acre islet north of The Bronx, with an unusual statue...
Photographic Paper
$1,850
H 18 in W 24 in
"Sub Chaser USS PC-1264" a limited edition from Staten Island, 2024
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
18"x24" limited edition historic photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts a U.S. Navy Sub Chaser in a boat graveyard in Staten Island. During World War II, PC-1264 (along wit...
Photographic Paper
| Sold Date | Sold Price | Category | Medium | Creation Year | ||||||
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| $2,000 |
Average sold price of items in the past 12 months |
| $1,600-$2,400 |
| Sold price range of items in the past 12 months |