Mark Luthringer

About the Artist

I am a Baltimore-based artist whose photographs have been exhibited at the Oakland Museum of California, SF Camerawork, the SFMOMA Artist Gallery, 3A Garage: Architecture, and the University of Nevada Reno's Exit Gallery, and published in Arc Ca, Architecture, Dwell, Photo Metro, and Photo News. My photographic work overlaps both the silver and digital eras: from early lyrical landscape work and plastic camera explorations to large format architectural work to later conceptual work done with digital tools. I started painting mid-career, in an effort to engage the unique object and as a way of focusing attention on certain subjects. A common thread in all my work is finding value in what is generally passed over, discarded, or dismissed, whether it’s abandoned real estate, bits and pieces of infrastructure, fast food signage, or suburban office parks.  

Artist's Statement

Sample Artist Statement (Ridgemont Typologies)(2025 update): I began working with typologies and grids shortly after I got my first digital camera.  Walking past a sign that said ‘Ridgemont’, the idea for an entire series of works came into my head, one based on exploiting digital photography’s ability to collect, combine, and present large numbers of images.  Initially, I found photogrids to be a potent form of critique. The typological array’s inherent ability to depict prevalence and repetition make it the perfect technique for examining the excess, redundancy, and meaningless freedom of our current age of consumption.  Paradoxically, some of my grids delivered this content with a dose of humor. This dichotomy between humor and horror lies at the core of this work’s success for me. As my work with typologies and grids evolved, I began to feel that the examples of other grid lovers like Sol Lewitt and The Bechers were really just a start, and that the form must have huge numbers of unexplored avenues. In my own work, I found that typologies can do more than just critique. They are also be a way to celebrate the subjects and to indulge my own fetishes, for example signage, office parks, and print advertising and packaging.