SILVERSLIPPER

About Ralph Richter

THE DESERT GLOW In no other culture in the world have art and commerce grown so inseparable as in the US. Like lighthouses in the night, billboards of the most adventurous shapes and colors draw people into hotels, restaurants, and… Read more

Visit artist page follow artist

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

THE DESERT GLOW

In no other culture in the world have art and commerce grown so inseparable as in the US. Like lighthouses in the night, billboards of the most adventurous shapes and colors draw people into hotels, restaurants, and casinos along the lonely highways and glittering strips of Las Vegas, Reno, and Atlantic City.

In the Neon Boneyard of Las Vegas’s Neon Museum, the ever-young history of America’s exalted advertisement and pop culture spreads out across 3 acres. Under the glistening sun of the Nevada desert, the disused, sometimes gigantic signs and advertisement “sculptures” have become discolored. They originate from the legendary game halls such as the Gold Nugget and Silver Slipper; today they seem an echo of a golden age.

The Düsseldorf photographer Ralph Richter has consequently captured the extinguished objects in photographs whose colors have been highly unsaturated so as to lend the fast-paced constructions an almost historic aura. Dramatic contrasts, tight, highly composed cropping, and precise selection of each motif strengthen the effect. From the vast abundance, Richter has selected single, powerful words that, in his images, extend well beyond the mere sales pitch.

Horst Klöver

VITA

1963	born in Salzgitter-Bad, Germany
	raised in East Frisia, Germany
1983	Abitur degree
1985	studied visual communication and photo/film design at the Fachhochschule Dortmund while completing six semesters in architecture at the University of Dortmund, Germany
1987	freelance employee at WDR local TV in Dortmund as a "cable monkey," later as sports reporter
1989	began freelancing in architectural and commercial product photography
1991	completed degree exams to become a photo designer, Fachhochschule Dortmund
1992	founding of the image archive …architekturphoto
1993	office in Düsseldorf, Germany
since June 2003	sole proprietor of image archive …architekturphoto

Exhibitions

	Abbaye Notre Dame du Gard, Amiens, France
	Fotografisches Zentrum der UDSSR, Moscow, Russia
	Galerie Aedes, Berlin, Germany
	Linhoffgalerie, Munich, Germany
	World Financial Center, New York, USA
	Museum am Hansaplatz, Dortmund, Germany