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Phillip Buehler

American

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.

"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 ...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Photographic Paper

"Church Steeple" conceptual color photograph, rural landscape, abstract wall
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
This 18"x24", signed, editioned color photograph, contrasts an image of a rural town landscape painting, against the highly textured aqua, teal, turquoise blue painted wall, which reveals a cream white underpaint layer. Time and age have created an image of beautiful decay with the cracked and peeling paint, which creates an amazing visual backdrop to the painting. The pairing of the two in this photograph compliment each other on a sensory level and bring out thoughts of nostalgia and longing. Phillip Buehler is a New York based photographer who documents the deterioration and remnants of neglected architecture constructed in the recent past. He is arguably the first to coin the neologism “modern ruins”. His photographs published in “Woody Guthrie’s Wardy Forty,” have won numerous awards, documenting the singer/songwriter/activist’s life at Greystone Park Psychiatric. He received his BA at Rutgers University and his MFA in photography at School of Visual Arts. Phillip Buehler has been featured in Art in America, The New York Times, Art News, The Art Newspaper, Wall Street Journal, American Photo Magazine, The Huffington Post, Hyperallergic, Gothamist, Art F City, The Sun, ABC, CNN, and numerous other publications. Phillip Buehler Church Steeple...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Archival Pigment

Thunderbolt Sign, Coney Island
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
edition of 5, signed on reverse. This photograph was taken in 2000 of the the Thunderbolt rollercoaster in Coney Island prior to its demolition. The Thunderbolt was a wooden roller...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Pigment

"Art World" Wayne Hills Mall, NJ (Modern Ruin series) 24"x30" color photograph
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
24"x30" contemporary color photograph, limited edition of 5, signed on reverse by the artist, Phillip Buehler. This photograph depicts the time ravaged corridor of the abandoned Wayne Hills Mall, in Wayne, New Jersey. A waterlogged hallway leads from the crumbling atrium to the empty storefront shell of Art World, with its sign still intact on the upper wall of the shop. Phillip Buehler captures the last stages of the life of the once bustling mall, with the empty corridors and dilapidated storefronts and kiosks. This photograph is a featured in a solo exhibition of Phillip Buehler's photographs, entitled: “Mallrat to Snapchat: The End of the Third Place.” Front Room Gallery is proud to present “Mallrat to Snapchat: The End of the Third Place,” on view November 29th - January 12th. January recent work by photographer Phillip Buehler documenting the death of the Wayne Hills Mall in Wayne, New Jersey. This is Buehler’s second solo show at Front Room Gallery. Buehler’s exhibition is part photography, part installation, part cultural critique, mixed in with nostalgia and genuine affection for this very American economical and sociological experiment— The Mall. Buehler takes a very intimate look at the beginning, and possibly ending, of mall culture in the United States featuring not only photographs, but also artifacts from the mall and its opening year, 1973. Under a photograph of a desolate Sam Goody will be a bin filled with almost 100 albums from that year, that visitors can flip through and play in the gallery on a vintage record player. Buehler’s photos of iconic hangouts and lowbrow teenage meeting places ring out from the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s but are torn away from their movie soundtracks and sent into an apocalyptic icy future. Featuring Sam Goody, Waldenbooks, Toys R Us...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Archival Pigment

"Thunderbolt and Parachute Jump" a limited edition from Coney Island, 1997
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
18"x24" limited edition historic photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts a roller coaster that was built in 1925, abandoned in 1980, and demolished in 2000. Behind is the Pa...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Photographic Paper

"Auditorium" a limited edition photograph from North Brother Island, 2019
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
18"x24" limited edition historic photograph, edition 1/5. This photograph depicts an abandoned auditorium, left to the elements. This same auditorium was photographed in 1975, slowly...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Photographic Paper

"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...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Photographic Paper

"Art World" Wayne Hills Mall, New Jersey (Modern Ruin series) color photograph
By Phillip Buehler
Located in New York, NY
limited edition of 5, signed on reverse by the artist, Phillip Buehler. This photograph depicts the time ravaged corridor of the abandoned Wayne Hills Mall, in Wayne, New Jersey. A...
Category

2010s Contemporary Phillip Buehler

Materials

Archival Pigment

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Phillip Buehler art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Phillip Buehler art available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of art to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue, purple and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Phillip Buehler in pigment print, archival pigment print, paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Phillip Buehler art, so small editions measuring 14 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Bill Armstrong, Luke Smalley, and Cheryl Medow. Phillip Buehler art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $800 and tops out at $6,500, while the average work can sell for $1,700.

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