The American Experiment
refers to Brandon Ralph’s ongoing work that considers the nation’s history, people, culture, and identity. It includes a collection of photographs, recently published as a hardcover monograph, and a sequence of photographic collages & a series of American flag sculptures.
The American Experiment
In Ralph’s starkly beautiful and unwaveringly sensitive pictures, viewers glean a sense of timelessness and optimism that speaks to the collective nostalgia which reinforces the shared American ideal, one where cultures collide, embrace in love for one another and this shared land, and melt together into a common humanity.
The American Vernacular
Juxtaposes images dominated by text, both unexpected and commonplace, often captured miles and years apart. Ralph combines found words photographed in urban, suburban, and rural landscapes, they form a singular image where seemingly disparate people, and the American past and present, meet in seminal harmony.
Still American
In his sculptural depictions of the American flag, Ralph explores the physical object and its symbolism, both the very essence of our nation’s identity. By working with papier-mâché crafted from international newspapers, he highlights the diversity that literally and figuratively holds the fabric of America together.
In his Moon Landing series, Ralph sets out to create the whimsical illusion of moon landings on Earth. To achieve the astonishing effects of these ethereal works, he photographs a suspended, sixteen-foot illuminated balloon printed with the moon’s topography, each single-frame image captured with surreal humor and luminosity. At face value, these photographs remind us not to jump to conclusions, of the power of imagery and the humor in our assumptions. Additionally, they invite viewers to pause and contemplate the larger question of the moon's eternal presence in contrast to the finite nature of our own time here on Earth.
In reBirth of a City, Ralph casts New York’s iconic water towers as the consistent, unchanging image seen over the last century in the ever-changing city skyline in a series of lambent nude portraits in distant, wide-angle perspective. The photographic juxtaposition of these unique wooden relics–still a vital part of daily life–with the strength and softness of the female form offers a wholly new experience of urban physicality: the architectural and the corporeal at once representing life, creation & change.