West

"Acclaimed photographer Richard Phibbs turns his unique eye for beauty westward. The West, his second book, is an extremely personal view of the beauty and authenticity of the place and its lingering hold on our national consciousness. Once more Phibbs collaborates with Alfredo Paredes, Executive Vice President, Ralph Lauren, his partner in his first monograph, Chasing Beauty. Phibbs's love of the West came naturally. He was born in Calgary, Alberta, home to Canada's Calgary Stampede, one of the world's great rodeos. The landscapes of Phibbs's childhood are the background of his most evocative and authentic images: stark plains and endless prairies, weathered barns and fences, an empty horizon rolling to an open sky. This minimalism rooted in nature shaped Phibbs's aesthetic from the beginning. Peopling the western landscapes of his childhood was that archetypal hero, the cowboy. Phibbs's modern cowboys are sensitively rendered; looking into their eyes, you connect with decades of tradition while experiencing an electric shock of immediacy. Phibbs's artful images--iconic portraits of cowboys, horses as wild and free as the wide-open spaces, a dog working its herd with skillful grace, a saddle weathered with work and time--find their deserved setting in Parades's careful editing, with comparisons and contrasts that amplify each photo's emotional resonance."--