Laurence Miller Gallery inaugurates the 2006 winter season with it’s first-ever exhibition of the work of Bruce Wrighton. Entitled Dinosaurs and Dreamboats, this show of approximately 20 color photographs celebrates the irony inherent in classic automotive design and technology of the 1950’s in juxtaposition with classic American business ventures. More than simply portraits of marvelous cars and bygone shops, these vibrant images taken in upstate New York transport the viewer back in time to the post WWII era when America was optimistic, upbeat,
and full of swagger. In his brilliant description of the 1950’s American automotive phenomenon, Brocks Yates opines: 

Thanks to the nation’s confidence—and its access to the cheapest gasoline on
Earth—there was no stopping the creation of the biggest, fastest, heaviest,
flashiest cars that…could be spread out on the drawing boards. There were
no government pressures, no environmental concerns, no serious cries for
safety, no motivation for fuel economy—no restraints whatever on what has
to stand as the last hour that the great automotive dinosaurs roamed the earth.

The design and technology of these machines were not lost on Bruce Wrighton. Though these cars were ridiculed shortly after their demise, they are now collected as symbols of an age in which America was proud, confident, and respected. It is with great irony that he chose the most colorful, flashiest automobiles to photograph in front of the most working-class businesses. Thus a 1958 Oldsmobile Super 88 with long sleek chrome lines and white sidewall tires is positioned in front of Mariani’s Shoe and Heel Repair, or a 1958 red and white Corvette convertible fronts Curley’s Bar and Grill. In the photographs of Bruce Wrighton, everyone has access to these extraordinary machines. Bruce Wrighton was born in Ithaca, New York, in 1950. He received a Kodak “top 100 new photographers” award and died shortly after completing this project in 1988.

1956 Ford Crown Victoria
Cinema, Endicott, NY, c.1987
30 x 40" chromogenic print
Edition 10

1951 Ford
Custom Convertible c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
V Drive In Theatre
Vestal, NY, c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1957 Buick Special Riviera 
Coupe, Mickey's Blue Haven
Johnson City, NY, c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1959 Ford Skyliner
Johnson City, NY, c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1957 Pontiac Starchief
Binghamton, NY. c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1950 Studebaker Champion
Binghamton, NY, c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1948 Plymouth Special
Delux Coupe, c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1958 DeSoto Firedome
J&S Texas Hots, c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1959 Oldsmobile Super 88
Mariani's Shoe Repair
Endicott, NY, c.1987
20 x 24" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1951 Chevrolet Styleline Delux
Main Street Cleaners
Binghamton, NY, c.1987
24 x 20" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1955 Plymouth Belvedere
near Binghamton, NY, c.1987
24 x 20" chromogenic print
Edition 20

1953 Nash Rambler
Wilber's Jewelers
Johnson City, NY, c.1987
24 x 20" chromogenic print
Edition 20