Overview
In American Color, Constantine Manos has created unique and complex images that freeze surprisingly disparate elements together in a single fascinating frame. Photographing in crowded public places and many unique locales in the United States, such as Venice Beach and Atlantic City, and during special events like Bike Week in Daytona Beach and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Manos presents a kaleidoscope of American culture.
Although the pictures are of people and places in the United States, they do not pretend to constitute a general or definitive statement about America. They share the visual vocabulary of American culture, but the viewpoint and choice of locations are deliberately selective and narrow. Each image has its own message and elicits its own set of responses from the viewer. The flow of people in a public setting, their shifting relationships to one another, their ever-changing expressions and gestures provide a rich and dynamic situation for capturing the unexpected. Manos has transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary and the real into the surreal in this truly colorful collection of photographs.
Constantine Manos is a member of the prestigious photojournalist cooperative, Magnum. His work has been published and shown throughout the world. His books include Portrait of a Symphony, A Greek Portfolio, and Bostonians. Manos lives in Boston, Massachusetts.