American Color

In American Color, Constantine Manos has created a set of fascinating images that engage both the eye and mind in repeated viewings and contemplation. Photographing mostly in exotic locales and at public events within the United States, such as Venice Beach and Atlantic City, Bike Week at Daytona Beach and at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Manos presents a kaleidoscopic view of American culture. Although the pictures were made in the United States, they do not pretend to constitute a general or definitive statement about the country or its people. They are instead specific moments that cannot be categorized and which exist for their own sake.

In his preface, Manos says, “The flow of people in a setting, their changing relationship to each other and their environment, and their constantly changing expressions and movements – all combine to create dynamic situations which provide the photographer with limitless choices of when to push the button. By choosing a precise intersect between subject and time, he may transform the ordinary into the extraordinary and the real into the surreal.”

American Color is a collective of photographs that charm, humor, mystify, and astonish while asking questions without giving ready answers.

Signs of slight shelf wear.