The photographs in this exhibition are from Thirty-Six Views of the Golden Gate Bridge, a series inspired by 19th century Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, who created Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, a series of landscape prints that show the sacred mountain from various locations, in different seasons, and in all kinds of weather. Nearly two hundred years later, I applied Hokusai’s artistic concept to making photographs of San Francisco’s defining landmark.
More than an act of emulation, this series is an exercise in seeing. It answers a question I asked myself: Is it possible to see the most photographed bridge in the world anew? I followed three rules: make no postcard shots; make only black and white photos to emphasize the bridge’s fabled form; and lastly, make photos from unusual vantage points that place the bridge in context with its environment.
After photographing the Golden Gate Bridge intensively for two years, I indeed came to see it anew. What I found most impressive, even more than the span’s status as an engineering and architectural icon, is its power as a symbol of possibility.
When it was first proposed, naysayers declared there was no way to build what was then the tallest and longest suspension bridge in the world over such a treacherous strait. Undaunted, Joseph Strauss, the Golden Gate’s visionary chief engineer, replied, “Our world today revolves completely around things which at one time couldn’t be done because they were supposedly beyond the limits of human endeavor. Don’t be afraid to dream.” I dedicate Thirty-Six Views of the Golden Gate Bridge to this spirit of possibility.
ARTHUR DROOKER
