Crate Wealth

Frank Breuer photographs banal objects in nondescript locations: three-dimensional logo signs by roadways, warehouse facades, the stacked hulks of overseas shipping containers. Under dead white skies, with no human figures nearby and no real point of reference for their size and scope, Breuer's subjects are reduced to arrangements of lines and planes, gradations of hue and color, accumulations of mass and bulk. And yet these seemingly abandoned objects are symbols of vast, multinational corporation wealth. Breuer's photographs are tangible proof of GNPs that are yet to be estimated, stocks that will be electronically traded, paychecks to be cut the week after next. Breuer's work reveals the rather mundane truth of a global economy that generates billions of dollars out of such forlorn symbols for unseen, anonymous people. Frank Breuer: Photographs, a selection of images from five of Breuer's series, is currently on display in Gallery 321 of the Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park (314-721-0072 or www.slam.org). The show remains up through Sunday, March 16.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Dec. 27. Continues through March 16, 2007