Brixton Flats, London, Dusseldorf School, Photography 2007

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Brixton Flats is a stunning C-Type Print by contemporary photographer Samuel Hicks.

It is available in this size in an … Read more Brixton Flats is a stunning C-Type Print by contemporary photographer Samuel Hicks.

It is available in this size in an Edition of 25, and is sold unframed.

Hicks depicts the normality of urban living in this photograph of a block of flat in Brixton. Brixton is situated in South London, in the borough of Lambeth. At its height, Lambeth was famous for glassmaking and boat building.

When the Westminster Bridge was opened in 1750, it marked a new start for the inhabitants of Lambeth. Along with the subsequent construction of the Blackfriars and Vauxhall bridges throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, it was now possible for people to move more freely within the city of London.

Despite the developments in the city, Lambeth remains to this day a poorer borough compared to its many siblings across the city of London. In this depiction of a mundane block of flats in Brixton, Hicks reveals the everyday, the mundane, the average. This contrasts with the glossy appearance of high art photography, but it permits Hicks to return to his roots which are, indeed, normal.

Here, Hicks presents Brixton as he sees it - as the inhabitants of Brixton see it. And yet it also permits the viewer to see a side of London that they may not have witnessed before.

The repetition of the shapes in this block of flats is reminiscent of the iconic Dusseldorf School of Photography. The Dusseldorf School was a photographic movement developed by Bernd & Hilla Becher, and continued by their disciples who numbered Andreas Gursky, Candida Hofer, Thomas Struth, and Thomas Ruff amongst others.

In this photograph, Samuel Hicks looks to replicate that overarching artistic style in which the strict and objective composition of the object took priority over beautifying it.

After studying fine art for a couple of years, Samuel Hicks went on to study photography at Berkshire School of Art for a further two years. Following his graduation he began assisting photographers in London, mainly in advertising, before going on to assist one photographer for the next six years.

Since being out on his own as a photographer, Hicks has been fortunate enough to travel to places such as Argentina, the States, Czech republic, and many Caribbean Islands, working for clients such as O2, Land Rover, Lucozade, P&O, Smirnoff Ice, The Times, The Independent, Art World, ING, Lynx and Metropolitan Police. In the last few years his personal projects have incorporated working on location in Sweden, Norway, and Ireland where he shot the New York State Circus. Labeled by Maker,Numbered See less