Zac Arctander checks out some sweet rides

In the series Looking at Cars photographer Zak Arctander has shot the hosts and clientele of a suburban American car show. Zak says that he aims for a balance of “magic and dread” in his work which here is exemplified by the dully inquisitive expressions of the people attending the show. In a state of over-consumption, they are clearly focussed while being pretty much dead behind the eyes. Delightful.

To reference my own and countless other BA dissertations, there is something “Ballardian” about Zak’s work and its close-up dystopian perspective on the American Dream. Having grown up on skate photography, he now shoots people in transit, both literally and figuratively. Often pulling clumsy expressions, postures and gestures, his subjects in Looking at Cars are lost in the exhausting shining melee of metal and quilted interiors.