From April 3 - May 31, 2008, Laurence Miller Gallery will present the color photographs of Canadian Fred Herzog.  Herzog’s work is best described as a time capsule or treasure trove. This will be his first US one-person exhibition. Perfectly composed and atmospheric, the people and places that Herzog captured in the 1950’s and 1960’s, remind us of a period of transition, hope and a move toward the modern era. 

His images, mostly taken in Vancouver, are studies that show the aestheticism of life, presented with ease yet filled with the complexity of a perfectionist’s eye. A family gazes through a window in Chinatown , as the fashionable mother delicately holds her cigarette.  The city is awash in the vibrant color of glowing neon, that sometimes reflects off of the rain-soaked streets.  The displays and windows of second-hand shops are remarkable still-life’s that reflect not only the time, but also the shop-owners artful and loving presentation of goods for sale.  It is the people, the signs and billboards, and of course nostalgia for a time that has since drastically changed, that pulls us in and doesn’t let go.

Herzog immigrated to Canada from Germany following World War II. While employed as a medical photographer in Vancouver, his passion for photography took him on evenings and weekends to the streets to document daily life.  It was there he captured the subtle human gestures of everyday people, savoring every moment in perfect light. The unique public space that he so carefully cataloged with glimmering lights and psychedelic neon has since been replaced by big-name retailers and cookie-cutter storefronts.

Herzog’s work has been rapidly gaining attention after decades of virtual obscurity. Working in the 1950’s & 1960’s with color slides at a time dominated by black and white, his work was primarily shown locally as a slide show presentation. His first major exhibition was a retrospective of approximately 140 images in 2007 at the Vancouver Art Gallery . It is only now that this prolific body of work (over 80,000 Kodachrome slides) has begun to be printed in the way that the 78 year-old artist had envisioned it so long ago.

There will be a reception with the artist on April 3^rd from 6-8 p.m. His book Fred Herzog: Vancouver Photographs, which was published in conjunction with his retrospective, will be available.