There are certain tropes you see when walking the streets of any big city, most of which are so banal they never cross your mind. Charles Johnstone makes it his photographic endeavor to catalog some of these phenomena, as in his Brooklyn Fences series.
The mundane nature of the the fences has a way of coming alive when viewed in serial form. Combined with the precision of Johnstone’s compositions, you can’t help but experience an odd pleasure in the colorful rhythm of the scenes.
This type of cataloging of everyday life is a strong impulse in photography, going back to artists like Ed Ruscha and Bernd and Hilla Becher. For me, this type of work never gets old, and is only limited by the unique observations of each individual artist.
To see more of Charles Johnstone’s work, visit his website. He is represented by Julie Saul Gallery in New York City.
