Stephen Shore's American Surfaces, created between 1972 and 1973, documents the ordinary facets of American life captured during a series of road trips across the United States. Emerging at a time when black-and-white photography dominated artistic circles, Shore's use of color film represented a significant shift in the aesthetic and conceptual boundaries of the medium.
The early 1970s in America were marked by social upheaval and cultural transformation, influenced by the Vietnam War and political scandals like Watergate. Against this backdrop, Shore deliberately focused on the overlooked and routine aspects of everyday life, turning away from dramatic events to present a more nuanced portrayal of the American experience. American Surfaces captures diners, motels, meals, strangers, and mundane encounters, intentionally avoiding the decisive or sensational moments that traditionally characterized documentary photography.
Shore’s aim was not to elevate these ordinary scenes artistically but rather to reveal their innate significance. Themes explored include the nature of perception, cultural uniformity, and the subtle visual textures of the American landscape. The project's title itself points directly to Shore's focus: the literal surfaces—cultural artifacts and visual details—that embody the everyday life of the era.
Aesthetically, American Surfaces employs straightforward compositions that are seemingly unstructured but meticulously deliberate. Utilizing saturated Kodacolor film and a compact Rollei 35 camera with a mounted bottom flash, Shore created images characterized by unusual shadows and vivid colors, reinforcing their snapshot-like authenticity. The project's visual approach, further highlighted by the presentation of small, border-edged prints arranged directly onto gallery walls, emphasizes immediacy and accessibility, challenging traditional notions of photographic presentation.
Initially met with skepticism for its informal subjects and snapshot aesthetic, American Surfaces was later consolidated by key presentations—its 1972 debut at LIGHT Gallery, a large installation at P.S.1 (2005), and MoMA’s 2017–18 retrospective (which re-created the original display)—as well as expanded Phaidon editions (from 2005). Early institutional acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art further anchored its status, and the work is now regarded as formative in normalizing color and the vernacular snapshot within art photography.
