Andrew Bush: Drive
Overview
The automobile is the subject of Los Angeles-based photographer Andrew Bushʼs
hypnotic chromogenic photographs of that most beloved of American objects. In his
celebrated series of mobile portraiture Vector Portraits, Bush documents the car
culture of Southern California and of middle America too: Camaros, Impalas, Trans
Ams, Porsches and VW Beetles and the drivers who express their personality through
the cars they drive. In this strange limbo space, both public and private, Bush captures
the inherent mystery and fascination of other people. The evocative work has been
compared to Walker Evansʼ classic, equally voyeuristic photographs of New York City
subway riders from 1938-1941. Using a medium format camera on a tripod both placed
in the passengerʼs seat and a strobe light for a flash, Bushʼs photos are guerrilla
chronicles of people in the midst of driving (and often unaware they are being
photographed) down the highway. Bush records the diversity of people and the cars that
contain them in a highly narrative, seductive style that suggests film stills: an African
American family in a tomato red Cadillac, a tattooed mustached macho man in a yellow
Camaro, a Barbie-like woman in a hot pink car. Created from 1989 to 1991, Vector
Portraits shows how intimately American self-identification is tied up with the
automobile. He renders his drivers with a blend of voyeuristic fascination: quirkiness,
comedy and sometimes even despair are all present, depending upon the attitude of the
driver. The title for the series comes from the dual meaning of vector, as an agent that
contains or carries and the physics concept of the distance between point A and point
B. “Cars represent many things,” says Bush “style, fetish, and will always be an index of
social status. If I see someone driving a Bugatti Veyron I am curious—I want to see who
is driving that million-dollar car.”
Bushʼs work has shown alongside some of the most revered photographs of our age
including Larry Sultan and Philip-Lorca diCorcia. His work is included in many prominent
collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art,
the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. His Vector Portraits
were assembled in a 2008 Yale University Press book Drive.
Works
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Woman waiting to proceed south at Sunset and Highland boulevards, Los Angeles, at approximately 11:59 a.m. one day in February 1997 -
Women racing southwest at 41 mph along 26th Street near the Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California, at 1:14 pm on a Tuesday in February 1997 -
Man heading south at 73 mph on Interstate 5 near Buttonwillow Drive outside Bakersfield, California, at 5:36 p.m. on a Tuesday in March 1992
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![Family traveling northwest at 63 mph on Interstate 244 near Yale Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at approximately 4:15 p.m. on the last day of 1991]()
Family traveling northwest at 63 mph on Interstate 244 near Yale Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at approximately 4:15 p.m. on the last day of 1991 -
![Woman heading west at 71 mph on Interstate 44 outside Rolla, Missouri, at 11:43 a.m. in January 1991]()
Woman heading west at 71 mph on Interstate 44 outside Rolla, Missouri, at 11:43 a.m. in January 1991 -
![Man (possibly someone in character) traveling northwest at 60 mph on U.S. Route 101 in the vicinity of Hollywood on a late Sunday afternoon in March 1991]()
Man (possibly someone in character) traveling northwest at 60 mph on U.S. Route 101 in the vicinity of Hollywood on a late Sunday afternoon in March 1991
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![Man moving southbound between 58 and 67 mph in the slow lane on Interstate 5 near the Fletcher Drive exit in Los Angeles at 2:40 p.m. on a Thursday in 1991]()
Man moving southbound between 58 and 67 mph in the slow lane on Interstate 5 near the Fletcher Drive exit in Los Angeles at 2:40 p.m. on a Thursday in 1991 -
![Woman gliding southeast at 64 mph on U.S. Route 101 near Santa Barbara at 4:39 p.m. sometime in March 1990]()
Woman gliding southeast at 64 mph on U.S. Route 101 near Santa Barbara at 4:39 p.m. sometime in March 1990 -
![Woman caught in traffic while heading southwest on U.S. Route 101 near the Topanga Canyon Boulevard exit, Woodland Hills, California, at 5:38 p.m. in the summer of 1989]()
Woman caught in traffic while heading southwest on U.S. Route 101 near the Topanga Canyon Boulevard exit, Woodland Hills, California, at 5:38 p.m. in the summer of 1989
