Sign Up for Our Newsletter
Ulrich, Brian

Medium
photography
Profession
curator
  See my work
You can see his work in the permanent collections of the Art Insitute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Martin Margulies Collection, and the LaSalle Bank Photography Collection
Contact the artist
Website: Not If But When
 
 
ARTIST BIO

Brian Ulrich is a photographer. Born 1971 in Northport, NY. Now residing in Chicago, IL. His work has been exhibited at the Art Insitute of Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; the Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco; the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; the Sean Kelly Gallery, NY; Spencer Brownstone Gallery, NY; the Festival d'Arles, France; the Contemporary American Photography Festival, Mannheim, Germany; the Armory Show(2006); and ArtBasel, Miami (2006).



 
STATEMENT

In 2001 citizens were encouraged to take to the malls to boost the U.S. economy through shopping, thereby equating consumerism with patriotism. The Copia project, a direct response to that advice, is a long-term photographic examination of the excesses of consumer-dominated culture in which we live. Copia explores not only the everyday activities of shopping, but the economic, cultural, social, and political implications of commercialism and the roles we play in self-destruction, over-consumption, and as targets of marketing and advertising. By scrutinizing these rituals, I hope that viewers will evaluate the increasing complexities of the modern world and their own role within it.





Since we ultimately sees ourselves in these images, I hope to elicit compassion and empathy for those depicted by creating formal images that are elegant and beautiful. Shooting candidly with a medium-format film camera outfitted with a waist-level viewfinder and available light, I can capture lost excitement and overwhelmed, subsumed moments while being unnoticed myself. The large-scale photographs allow the viewer to stop and notice with a distanced perspective familiar places and things.





Click thumbnails to enlarge.
 

 Browse Artist by Name
   Browse Artist by Medium