Poignant Portfolio no. 16: Alan Ostreicher
Apartment 304
by Alan Ostreicher
These photographs are from an ongoing series of snapshots taken in and around my wife's and my apartment with a Polaroid camera and instant film over many years. I've had the idea of making images of my immediate domestic, day to day environment ever since spending a summer during college living in the Boston expressionist painter Jason Berger's art-filled apartment in Brookline. He painted mainly landscapes but I had a special affinity for the work he produced in his apartment. I was amazed at how his unique way of seeing transformed the space in which I was living into abstract, playful, and frenzied lines of color and space. Robert Bechtel is another artist whose use of everyday domestic scenes in his work has influenced my approach to this project.
We've lived in this rent-controlled apartment for over 20 years and although the rent is very reasonable we sometimes think about moving.
The thought of living somewhere else is a poignant reminder that although we've spent a good part of our lives here it may, at some point, be just a memory. I've made a lot of pictures of physical details of our apartment over the years, but the series mainly consists of those that depict the quiet moments of little consequence that comprise most of our time.
Apartment 304 book available NOW from Dark Spring Press
Alan Ostreicher has been making photographs for over 25 years. Born in New York in 1964, he first learned darkroom photography in high school. He graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in American Studies in 1987. His work has been exhibited nationally and is held in numerous corporate and private collections in the United States and Europe. His photographs have been published in Diffusion Annual, Don't Take Pictures, Black and White Magazine, The Photo Review, Conscientious Photography Magazine, and San Francisco Magazine. His work is available at Clampart in New York and at SFMOMA Artist's Gallery in San Francisco. He lives and works in San Francisco
From the Editor
With a so very topical and relatable subject matter, Ostreicher creates a lovely homage to his personal space of domesticity. The series is lovely and poignant, and that is very much why we are featuring it here. Thanks for spending the time with Alan’s work and please check out his new book published by Dark Springs Press.
–Blue Mitchell