REQUIREMENTS TO ACHIEVE THE IMAGES To most accurately represent the extent of a traffic jam, I chose to photograph the project from above, using a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft from different altitudes, ranging from 1500 to 5000 feet. However, the photographic representation of a large-scale traffic jam presents a technological challenge. In a 16 x 20 inch photograph, a one-mile stretch of freeway would be reduced to a thin line, radically reducing the visual impact if one cannot seeRead more
INTRODUCTION
Benny Chan has worked diligently over the past few years to photograph overhead views of Los Angeles freeways during the height of rush hour. Using a camera designed and manufactured exclusively for this project, Chan has taken pictures from high in the sky from a helicopter and has rendered monumental sized prints. With his almost omniscient perspective, Mr. Chan explores and sheds light on the conundrum of traffic as a symptom of a society being unable to keep pace withRead more
PMCA EXHIBITION
Showing at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, 5/30/09-9/20/09. Showing at the Wolfsonian in Miami, 10/16/09-1/21/10. In 2003, driving to my first Los Angeles gallery opening in Chinatown confronted by a massive traffic jam, I became nostalgic for the early nineties when I moved to Los Angeles from Hawaii and the streets were far less congested. Two weeks after the opening I was at lunch with the gallery owner and my curator and I told them how profoundly affected IRead more