November 16 – December 16, 2006
Artist’s reception and book signing:
Thursday, November 16, 2006
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
“Rough Beauty conveys Anderson’s conviction that the hard scrabble lives of most of the residents of Vidor, Texas, are worthy of our attention, but it also conveys that he does not seek to beautify their lives by removing the crude edges.” —Anne Wilkes Tucker, Curator of Photography, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
ClampArt is pleased to announce Rough Beauty, an exhibition of photographs by artist, Dave Anderson, organized in conjunction with the release of his monograph of the same title from Dewi Lewis Publishing.
Photographed predominately in the poor rural town of Vidor, Texas, Rough Beauty explores the character and burden of a community branded by its past. Vidor is reviled for its history of Klan activities, but behind the harsh stereotypes is a town of bootstrappers struggling to get by against a background of crushing poverty almost reminiscent of the Great Depression.
Born in Michigan in 1970, Anderson is a relative newcomer to the world of photography. He first worked on President Clinton’s 1992 campaign, and then in the White House press office. Later, he was employed by MTV touring the country registering young voters for the program, “Choose or Lose.” After working on Al Gore’s presidential campaign, he joined a start-up film production company in New York City before hitting the road with his camera intending to document obscure parts of America that had eluded him while traveling cross-country for MTV. He had only one rule for his road trip—no driving on any road with more than two-lanes. The sensitive and atmospheric prints he produced reflect the influence of his teachers Keith Carter and Michael Kenna.
Called “One of the shooting stars of the American photo scene” by Germany’s fotoMAGAZIN, Anderson was recently named the winner of the 2005 Santa Fe Center for Photography’s Project Competition. His work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana; the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts; the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas; the University of Louisville Photographic Archive, Louisville, Kentucky; and the private collections of Todd Oldham and Jennifer Soros.