One Million Years is Three Seconds is an experimental documentary about time, place, creation, beauty, order, and the lifelong accumulation of knowledge. The project makes intuitive associations... More > between the domains of four Wisconsin men who avoided the homogeneity of 20th century American consumer culture. Our still photographs are interspersed with pages from mid-century social studies books to examine 20th century technological developments, and the cultural and economic standards whose traces linger into the present. The chaos, complexity and transcendent nature of the four men’s lives appear at odds with the values widely accepted by the general population. Evidence of millions of small, quietly made choices can be observed in their surroundings and visible in our photographs. A composite portrait emerges from the words and images we collected during our ongoing visits over the past decade. Contains more than black-and-white and color photographs and 25 reproductions of vintage schoolbook graphics.< Less
View camera portraits of "obscure midwestern denizens" interspersed with writings and documents by J. Shimon & J. Lindemann of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The photographs capture the flavor... More > of the landscape and the quiet melancholy realities of American rural and small town life. As photographers, the artists establish a subjective historical view; they become involved in situations and respond to them.Their early captivation with Depression-era FSA photos, Edward Steichen's masterful gum prints, anonymous snapshots, and Robert Frank--who gave them the impulse to photograph everything in their path--has led them to a "new timelessness" in contemporary imagery and themes. Shimon and Lindemann met as art students in 1981, with Midwestern punk an early influence and connection. They are Assistant Professors of Art at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. Catalog for "It Takes One to Know One" exhibition at Sarah Bowen Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (September-October 2006). 28 b/w and color illustrations.< Less
Shimon and Lindemannn traveled around the state of Wisconsin in a 1962 Ramber Cross County Station Wagon with their 8x10 Deardorff view camera to make these portraits and landscapes about the... More > occupations and preoccupations of the people around them. From farmers to artists, they found that global issues and concerns infiltrated even the remotest places as they drove the side roads from Manitowoc to Milwaukee, Fall Creek, Crivitz and beyond. Brief stories accompany the photographs to provide context. An essay titled “Feed Mill” by acclaimed Wisconsin author Michael Perry adds to the regional gravitas. Shimon and Lindemann have been photographing people in Wisconsin for more than 20 years. This book contains 62 recent black-and-white and color photographs to depict an early 21st century sense of place.< Less
One Million Years is Three Seconds is an experimental documentary about time, place, creation, beauty, order, and the lifelong accumulation of knowledge. The project makes intuitive associations... More > between the domains of four Wisconsin men who avoided the homogeneity of 20th century American consumer culture. Our still photographs are interspersed with pages from mid-century social studies books to examine 20th century technological developments, and the cultural and economic standards whose traces linger into the present. The chaos, complexity and transcendent nature of the four men’s lives appear at odds with the values widely accepted by the general population. Evidence of millions of small, quietly made choices can be observed in their surroundings and visible in our photographs. A composite portrait emerges from the words and images we collected during our ongoing visits over the past decade. Contains more than black-and-white and color photographs and 25 reproductions of vintage schoolbook graphics.< Less
View camera portraits of "obscure midwestern denizens" interspersed with writings and documents by J. Shimon & J. Lindemann of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The photographs capture the flavor... More > of the landscape and the quiet melancholy realities of American rural and small town life. As photographers, the artists establish a subjective historical view; they become involved in situations and respond to them.Their early captivation with Depression-era FSA photos, Edward Steichen's masterful gum prints, anonymous snapshots, and Robert Frank--who gave them the impulse to photograph everything in their path--has led them to a "new timelessness" in contemporary imagery and themes. Shimon and Lindemann met as art students in 1981, with Midwestern punk an early influence and connection. They are Assistant Professors of Art at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin. Catalog for "It Takes One to Know One" exhibition at Sarah Bowen Gallery, Brooklyn, New York (September-October 2006). 28 b/w and color illustrations.< Less
About julie
We are collaborative artists and associate professors of art at Lawrence University. Our studio is in Manitowoc, Wisconsin in a 19th century storefront.
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