from Afterimage Magazine, June 2010
Omaha Sketchbook by Gregory Halpern
J&L Books, 2009. 44 pp., 39 color illustrations, 8x10-inches
Omaha Sketchbook is an embodiment of everything I value in a photobook. It
consists of exceptional photographs crafted by an artist who clearly understands
both the medium’s potential, and how to exploit its limitations. Gregory Halpern
brings us into a world that is simultaneously real, and utterly fictional. I don’t
doubt that the people and places he photographed are indeed part of the true
fabric of Omaha, Nebraska, but they are reconfigured here in a way that mixes
empiricism with wandering thoughts and sketchy recollection. With a consistent
tone throughout, the images ground us in the prosaic, while judiciously extracting
lyricism and outright beauty. They remind us that through unflinching clarity, the
hardness of things can offer moments of wonderment.
The sequence and rhythm of the book are in service not just to the individual
photographs, but to a larger arc that makes it a self-contained piece. It is not a
reference point to something else, such as an exhibition, and it doesn’t act as a
portfolio or survey. It is an artwork that finds its meaning through the form of the
book. Through intricate and nuanced sequencing, Halpern gives shape to the
incoherence of the visible world, seamlessly weaving together images ranging
from a dying bird in the snow, to a gathering of Boy Scouts. This is a friendly and
accessible book, but owing to its rich layers and complex relationships, it doesn’t
lack toughness or allow laziness.
Its low-end, yet unmannered production values are another appealing aspect of
Omaha Sketchbook. Made up of 39 laser-printed color reproductions copied
directly from medium-format contact prints, there is an immediacy to the tactile
quality of the page that lends itself to the stream-of-consciousness flow of the
sequencing. The book is spiral-bound with an appropriately understated cover
design consisting only of text applied with a letterpress. I feel lucky to have a
copy, as it was produced in a very small edition of 30 copies. I can only hope this
is a prelude for a publication that will ultimately be printed in a larger run. It is
deserving of a bigger audience.
— Ron Jude