by Matthew Pillsbury (Photographer), Mark Kingwell (Text by (Art/Photo Books))
"City Stages" offers a paean to the visionary potential of large-format, black-and-white photography as well as to the vibrancy of the cultural landscape at a transitional moment--a moment in which our very relationship to that landscape is increasingly mediated by omnipresent screens. Over the past decade, Pillsbury has built three extensive bodies of work--"Screen Lives," "Hours" and "City Stages"--that deal with contemporary metropolitan life and the passage of time. Working with black-and-white 8 x 10 film and long exposures, Pillsbury captures a range of psychologically charged experiences in the urban environment, from the isolationism of personal technology to crowded museums, parades, cathedrals and even protests. Shot in New York, Paris, London and other major cities, the rendering of iconic landmarks and interior spaces in his images provides a stage-like setting for the performance of human activity. This monograph gathers for the first time selections from all three bodies of work.