“#5060,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.
“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” ―Jack Kerouac, On the Road
There’s an excitement and allure to hitting the road with no destination in sight and no route in mind. This is part of the appeal of Mike Brodie‘s recent work. Captured during a three-year period when, as a teenager, he hitchhiked, rode freight trains and lived off the grid with a group of fellow travelers, Brodie’s images have a movement and restlessness to them that celebrates the freedom of the itinerant life. This is the modern-day equivalent of Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel On the Road. But just as Kerouac and his Beat Generation peers had their share of despair, Brodie’s photos show that life on the road is not for the faint of heart. His subjects are soot-covered, sleeping on the side of the tracks and surviving on the food others have thrown away. Yet they ride on, ever curious about what the next spot on the map can bring.
“Mike Brodie: A Period of Juvenile Prosperity” opens at M+B gallery in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 16, with a book signing by the artist, whose first monograph, A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, was published earlier this month by Twin Palms. A concurrent exhibition is also running in New York City at Yossi Milo Gallery.
“#3102,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.
“#5065,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.
“#0924,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.
“#3025,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.
the taste of old school photos