Arthur Tress: The Life Cycle of the Orange Rubber Traffic Cone

Arthur Tress: The Life Cycle of the Orange Rubber Traffic Cone

Since the mid-1950s, San Francisco–based Arthur Tress has developed a wide-ranging body of work, from social documentary photographs to boldly experimental and surrealist pictures. In recent years, he has used his analog Hasselblad camera to explore the quiet poetry and humor embedded in everyday life, finding an unlikely muse in the humble traffic cone. Created amid the San Francisco Bay Area’s ongoing urban transformation, this project draws from images Tress makes on his daily photography outings. From 2015 to 2018, he amassed more than 1,500 photographs of these ubiquitous markers of civic life. Composed at a forty-five-degree tilt to form a diamond-shaped frame, these pictures marry balance and disorientation, extending Tress’ surrealist imagination into the fabric of contemporary city life.

This exhibition is presented as part of the Further Triennial, a collaborative initiative bringing together visual arts organizations across Northern California to premiere exhibitions and programs that celebrate the creative life of the region. Learn more about the Triennial’s exhibitions and programming at furthertriennial.org.

[image detail] 
Small Bird at Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco  2018
Arthur Tress (b. 1940)
archival pigment print
Courtesy of the artist