Last Friday I was in attendance for the debut split opening of New York Based Artist Daniel Arnold (When To Say Nothing) and Snorri Sturluson’s Laundromat. Sturluson’s project is an in-depth character study on the topic of Laundromats. Each piece is a snapshot that documents multiple locations in different places in time exhibiting a second of daily life that reciprocates itself as many times as you can imagine in a place like New York. Sturluson’s imagery may at first seem irregardless at first but as one traverses through the work the photos possessed an indefinable entrancing quality that is only heightened by the reality and hidden detail each photograph entails. Laundromat is a truly multifaceted project that hints towards the change in New York City landscape as one of its many influences.
Asides the photographs there is an installation in a sub room in the gallery that is hosts items that you would find a neighborhood Laundromat along with a looped showing of Sturluson’s teaser for the series. During the time I spent in said room I inadvertently struck up a conversation with a person who I would come to find out was Sturluson. We went back and forth on comparisons of New York and California life and I segued into asking a couple questions about the influence and intention of the project as well as how Laundromats are a dying animal that is suffering constant blows due to gentrification of certain neighborhoods.
ISM: How did this project come to fruition, why did you choose Laundromats as opposed to Liquor Stores, Dry Cleaners?
SS: The whole utilitarian structure of New York and the day to day services businesses offer in communities has always been interesting to me. New York is a very close place. Everyone lives on top of each other. Everyone is always on the move and there’s no space so with that New Yorkers do a lot of their “living” in public. The project actually started by coincidence. A friend of mine commissioned me to shoot photos of Laundromats to be displayed in his restaurant as works of art. Right off the bat I thought to myself “This would make a great coffee table book.” The structure and flow of the piece works very well typologically. I started shooting in 2008 and since then I have shot about 650 Laundromats. There are only 185 or so in the book.
ISM: Do you remember the first time you picked up a camera?
SS: Well I don’t remember when the first time I picked up a camera but the first camera I received was given to me by my father. It was an old Pentax. In Iceland there are a lot of landscapes so I would just go out and take pictures of things. Back then rolls of film were very expensive so I had to make the best of every photo. I would look thorough the view finder and analyze the shot in my mind to be conscious of what I was shooting was a good picture or not.
-Eric Estrada
All coverage photos taken by Tatsu
Snorri Sturluson – Laundromat from Snorri Sturluson on Vimeo.
Follow
