By reimagining and reinventing traditional photographic methods, American photographer Matthew Brandt (b. 1982) connects his images to place in direct and powerful ways. For an exhibition opening tomorrow at Weinstein Hammons Gallery, Brandt traveled to Minneapolis in early 2018 to photograph the mighty Mississippi River and its environs. Back in Los Angeles, where Brandt is based, he integrated Mississippi River water, as well as Gold Medal Flour, in the printing technique, creating unique and otherworldly landscapes. Gold Medal Flour was founded in Minneapolis in the late 1800s. Today, a sign bearing the product’s name, one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, sits high above the Mississippi on an old grain elevator. And for anyone who has experienced Minnesota in the dead of winter, it’s a feat of its own that Brandt was able to collect enough water, or ice, from the river to use in his printing process.

Brandt’s work is in the collection of numerous museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; The Guggenheim Collection, New York; The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; The High Museum, Atlanta; the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; and the Lost Angeles Museum of Art, Los Angeles.

Matthew Brandt: Gold Medal
Weinstein Hammons Gallery
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Opening July 27, 2018

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