Featured Artist: Dave Jordano
Prairieland – Small Towns 2005

Single Pump Generic Gas Station, Allerton, IL

Dave Jordano was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1948. In 1977, he established a successful photography studio in Chicago, IL. His work is included in several private, corporate, and museum collections; most notably the Museum of Contemporary Photography, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the Harris Bank Collection.

Prairieland is a body of work that the artist feels personifies rural life in Illinois. Dave Jordano wanted to approach this project from as objective a point of view as possible. This was a challenge because he has lived in a major metropolitan city all of his life. Much of this work centers on rural environments where people are caught living, either by choice or otherwise, on the fringes of society, disenfranchised, isolated by low economic status. A slow deterioration of the economic fabric of rural life is evident in many towns he explored and this consciousness has entered into his work. In addition, he has found a way to capture the other aspects of rural life which are wonderfully eccentric, filled with individualistic expression and personality.