Clark Winter: Here to There

The car is such an integral part of American culture that it has shaped our largest cities, inspired our best songs, played leading roles in films and books, and when it comes right down to it, has guided the American soul. Over the course of a half a century, Winter captured the American-ness of the car but, intriguingly, he also found a more global spirit, with pictures from Spain, Italy, China, etc. Winter's photographs feature the cars as well as the people in them, on them, and around them. And that's really where the fascinating friction happens because his images aren't simply about the cars themselves but, rather, they focus on the relationship between person and machine. Winter understood that how people relate - physically relate - to cars makes for evocative, emotional pictures, and his frames turn the car itself into a stage upon which owner and passenger and passersby perform. Consequently, there is much to consider in Winter's images: gender, geography, history, race, and class, among others. His pictures are nuanced, meaning that the cars often aren't the "hero" of the fame but rather an integral part of the stage upon which a drama quietly unfolds. And because these quiet dramas are universal - kids eating ice cream in the backseat, the top-down days of summer - Winter's pictures spark us to recall our own memories of our own days of adventure, romance, and speed.