Surface Relations, a new photobook by Patrick Gookin turns Los Angeles' clichés into low-fi dreamscapes. Isolation in sunlight, failed ambitions, smoggy strip malls, commuters trapped in their cars, and billboards juxtaposed with sulking trees provide a pastiche of ongoing trepidation. Using various i-Phones, often shooting from the safety of his car, Gookin photographs anonymously as he passes through, his frame tangled, at times out of focus, nodding equally to the influence Lee Friedlander, as to the ever-present Google-cam. I've been drawn to Gookin's work since including it in Humble's 2014 online exhibition Tough Turf: New Directions in Street Photography, and have been following its evolution since. I recently spoke with Gookin about his book, LA car culture, and a hint of existential relationships. PS - for our friends in Brooklyn, NY, Gookin will be having a book signing and one-day exhibition at Sunday Takeout, this Sat, April 1st from 1-5pm.

When Patrick Gookin moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to work as a photo editor, he faced an hour-long commute from Koreatown where he lived, to the beach neighborhood where he worked. In an effort to avoid freeway traffic and deepen his experience of LA, he began driving through city streets. As he explored this uncharted landscape he took quick iPhone photos of strangers along the way, drawn to the secrecy that shooting from his car provided, and how that seemed to clash with their presence in open, public spaces. After making and sharing these images repeatedly on Instagram for a year, Gookin started to stage the photos, working with actors and a point and shoot 35mm camera, evolving the photographs into his series LA By Car.

Patrick Gookin's Low Fidelity Los Angeles

Patrick Gookin Photographs Los Angeles From His Car