Mark Luthringer's typologies

via Gallery Hopper I love this selection of photographic grids by Mark Luthringer - his Ridgemont Typologies - typologies of our mundane world. In a way they also make me rather angry as they highlight so strongly the generic and homogenized nature of the environment around us and the pathetic level of thought and imagination that goes into designing not just the buildings and places we live and work in, but the objects we use everyday.

Good design, good architecture isn't just about looking pretty or pleasant - it's about the quality of life we chose to live. These pictures highlight so much of the the creative and imaginative malaise that afflicts so much of our society.

"The typological form achieves an uncanny synergy and resonance with this subject matter because it mimics the mental images I suspect many of us form as a way of ordering the chaos of abundance that surrounds us. We can’t help but form in our heads lists, groups and categories based on product, brand, price point, style, market segment, country of origin, etc.
To see one of these turned into a group of images lined up together can be unnerving, though. In print, they confront us in a way never possible when they're just in our heads. We are presented with order, and while it is often an absurd, seemingly pointless order, it is one that we recognize immediately". Mark Luthringer