Brian Ulrich

Brian Ulrich (American, b. 1971) Marshall Field's 2009 Archival inkjet print 11 x 14 inch image on 13 x 19 inch paper Signed edition of 50  Over the past few years, Brian Ulrich has documented the peculiarities and complexities of the consumer-dominated culture in which we live. His project Copia explores not only the everyday activities of shopping, but also the economic, cultural, social, and political implications of commercialism and the roles we play in self-destruction, over-consumption, and as targets of marketing and advertising. The three series existing within the Copia project include Retail, Thrift, and most recently Dark Stores, Ghost Boxes and Dead Malls. The first series Retail explored the roles consumers play as targets of marketing and advertising, whereas Thrift looked at the secondary life cycle of consumer goods. In the most recent series, Dark Stores, Ghost Boxes and Dead Malls, Ulrich examines the recent economic downturn by photographing emptied stores such as