When I look at the photographs taken by Caleb Stein it’s hard to wrap my mind around the idea that he is just at the beginning of his photography career. And if I can predict correctly, it’s a career that will undoubtedly lead to a level of mastery that will equal the greats. His work is so well seen, with such clear, unflinching vision, that his story telling is profound and singular. Born in London, now living in New York state, he has an outsider’s ability to strip away artifice and reveal small truths about America and small town life. His on-going series, Down by the Hudson, is timeless and beautiful in it’s revelations of others.
Five years later, the work continues and he has opened an exhibition at one of the most prestigious photography galleries in Los Angeles area (Santa Monica). Opening on Sept 10th and running through Oct 29th, 2022, ROSEGALLERY will be featuring work from his six year effort.
Down by the Hudson (2016-22) is his ‘ode’ to Poughkeepsie, a small town in upstate New York. The photographs are often a celebration of people communing in havens, little paradises, amidst the current backdrop of de-industrialization and political tension in the U.S. They are an exploration not only of how Stein’s conception of small town American life has been informed by ‘Americana’ in the vein of Norman Rockwell and Grant Wood, but also of the dissonance between these inherited mythologies and Stein’s personal responses to them, informed by his engagement with the spaces and people of Poughkeepsie.
