Edited by Stephanie Emerson. Text by George Byrne, Ian Volner.
A love letter to Los Angeles through the lens of a pastel postmodernism
Turning the spatial flotsam of the Anthropocene, or what architect Rem Koolhaas famously referred to as “junkspace,” into candy-colored dreamscapes, photographer George Byrne depicts the gritty urbanism of Los Angeles in sublime otherworldliness. Arriving a decade ago, the Australian artist was immediately enthralled by the sprawling cityscape, mesmerized by the way the sunlight transformed it into two-dimensional, almost painterly abstractions. In his Post Truth series (2015–20), Byrne reassembles his photos of the urban landscape into striking, ascetic collages of color and geometric fragments, creating postmodernist oases in the metropolis. By masterfully harnessing the malleability of the photographic medium, the photographer situates his work in the space between real and imagined. Byrne’s compositions evoke associations with Miami Beach’s Art Deco, the Memphis Group’s designs, as well as the painting of David Hockney or Ed Ruscha, and at the same time tap into the aesthetics of today’s visual culture played out on Instagram. This vibrantly illustrated catalog showcases more than 60 images from the series and features text by the design writer Ian Volner, as well as a foreword by Byrne himself. George Byrne (born 1976) graduated from Sydney College of the Arts in 2001, and traveled extensively before settling in Los Angeles in 2010. Today, he is internationally recognized for his large-scale photographs shot with medium-format film. Byrne has exhibited internationally and is currently represented by galleries in Sydney, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Oslo, Mumbai and Taipei. In 2020, he was named the Minimalist Photographer of the Year.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Guardian
Killian Fox
Oddly seductive vistas of parking lots and municipal spaces...As per the title, these candy-coloured images are less to do with reality than Byrne’s own ideas of America and of photography itself.
Creative Boom
Dom Carter
Described as existing on the border zone between reality and fantasy, Post Truth contains mesmerising images of vibrant walls, dreamlike signage, and saturated streets from suburban Los Angeles. And thanks to the masterful composition of photographer George Byrne, the city becomes an otherworldly environment.
Degraded Orbit
John Peck
A dreamlike series of bright, colorful locales that do not quite exist in the real world, appearing temporarily abandoned or forgotten, equal parts idyllic and abject.
Bookforum
Jane Ursula Harris
What emerges is Bryne’s uncanny ability to transform LA’s ubiquitous sidewalks, strip malls, low-rise buildings, palm trees, stucco facades, and gradient skies into cubist candy-colored reveries.
STATUS: Out of stock
Temporarily out of stock pending additional inventory.
Sunday, January 8 at 3 PM, Artbook @ Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles Bookstore presents a book signing and conversation with Post Truth photographer George Byrne and Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles author Rosecrans Baldwin. Pre-order signed copies of both books here! continue to blog
“Three Panels Palm Springs” (2021) is reproduced from George Byrne: Post Truth, a book to fall in love with. Collecting 68 color photographs of Los Angeles “junkspace,” as if seen through the lens of Ettore Sottsass on holiday in Miami, this body of work was already getting rave reviews many months before the book’s release. (See a few quotes on the book page.) Byrne describes being struck by the seed for the work as he flew in to Los Angeles for the first time. “Even from way up there, I thought it looked strangely beautiful. Later that same day, driving through the streets of LA for the first time, I was transfixed. There was so much light that the streetscapes seemed to become two-dimensional, angular cutouts. Shadows dissected the open space and figures occasionally floated by like ghosts through washed out pastel plains. It felt free, wild and open.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.75 x 11.75 in. / 144 pgs / 68 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $80.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $110 ISBN: 9783775752534 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 7/19/2022 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: Out of stock TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Hatje Cantz. Edited by Stephanie Emerson. Text by George Byrne, Ian Volner.
A love letter to Los Angeles through the lens of a pastel postmodernism
Turning the spatial flotsam of the Anthropocene, or what architect Rem Koolhaas famously referred to as “junkspace,” into candy-colored dreamscapes, photographer George Byrne depicts the gritty urbanism of Los Angeles in sublime otherworldliness. Arriving a decade ago, the Australian artist was immediately enthralled by the sprawling cityscape, mesmerized by the way the sunlight transformed it into two-dimensional, almost painterly abstractions. In his Post Truth series (2015–20), Byrne reassembles his photos of the urban landscape into striking, ascetic collages of color and geometric fragments, creating postmodernist oases in the metropolis. By masterfully harnessing the malleability of the photographic medium, the photographer situates his work in the space between real and imagined. Byrne’s compositions evoke associations with Miami Beach’s Art Deco, the Memphis Group’s designs, as well as the painting of David Hockney or Ed Ruscha, and at the same time tap into the aesthetics of today’s visual culture played out on Instagram.
This vibrantly illustrated catalog showcases more than 60 images from the series and features text by the design writer Ian Volner, as well as a foreword by Byrne himself.
George Byrne (born 1976) graduated from Sydney College of the Arts in 2001, and traveled extensively before settling in Los Angeles in 2010. Today, he is internationally recognized for his large-scale photographs shot with medium-format film. Byrne has exhibited internationally and is currently represented by galleries in Sydney, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver, Oslo, Mumbai and Taipei. In 2020, he was named the Minimalist Photographer of the Year.
