Born in 1963 and based in Los Angeles, Santos R. Vasquez exhibited color photographs in Vienna in 1999, held a solo exhibition in 2000, and appeared in a three-person exhibition with William Leavitt and Christopher Williams. His work was later included in the anthology PHOTOart. Through capitol never sleeps, Citrus District, Los Angeles, California, the long geographic titles, near-square prints, and the movement between exhibition and publication, this page traces how a specific Los Angeles site was presented as an artwork.
Vasquez approached Los Angeles without reducing the city to landmarks or a typical streetscape. He paired long titles extending to the district name with prints close to square in format. In capitol never sleeps, Citrus District, Los Angeles, California, city, district, and state attach the image to a specific site, while the dimensions, edition, and exhibition conditions of the gelatin silver print form part of the work’s information. In 2001, his work was shown alongside William Leavitt and Christopher Williams; from 2007 onward, it circulated on the printed pages of PHOTOart.He presented an urban image as a work shaped by place name, the material print, neighboring works, and the medium of publication.
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Contents · Table of Contents
Working in Los Angeles, Exhibiting in Vienna
basis wien lists Santos R. Vasquez as an artist born in 1963 who lived and worked in Los Angeles, identifying photography and color photography as his principal media*1. A two-person exhibition with Jeeyeon Lee at Galerie Mezzanin from April to June 1999 was presented as an introduction to young contemporary art from Los Angeles and identified Vasquez’s contribution as color photography*2.
He subsequently held a solo exhibition at the gallery in 2000, appeared in a 2001 three-person exhibition with William Leavitt and Christopher Williams, and participated in Homage to the Square in 2005. The gallery’s exhibition history records his activity through an art-fair presentation in 2008*4.
Photographs made in Los Angeles traveled to Vienna while retaining district and city names in their titles. The title capitol never sleeps, Citrus District, Los Angeles, California reconnects the image to the Citrus District even in a gallery far from the site of exposure. The geographic title and print information communicate both the work’s location and its route of movement.
capitol never sleeps: Inscribing the District in the Title
capitol never sleeps, Citrus District, Los Angeles, California (1999) was exhibited in Homage to the Square in 2005 as a gelatin silver print with an image size of 32.4 × 33.3 centimeters, edition 1/III*13. The title identifies the specific Citrus District, giving the photograph a more precise geography than the generic label “Los Angeles.”
The near-square frame and the extended geographic title perform different tasks. The image visually encloses a single site; the title specifies the geography beyond its edges. Its meaning draws equally on the buildings and light within the frame and on the location named in the title.
Color Photographs in 1999: Exhibited Beside Painting
In the 1999 two-person exhibition, Jeeyeon Lee showed paintings and Vasquez showed color photographs; Martin Prinzhorn organized the presentation*2. The shared gallery setting positioned the Los Angeles photographs as contemporary artworks in dialogue with painting, extending their function beyond illustration of the city.
The medium, title, print size, and adjacent works shaped the conditions of viewing alongside the image content. The exhibition gave audiences far from the place of exposure a setting in which to reconsider the relation between image and place name.
The 2000 Solo Exhibition: Photography in Critical Language
Maren Lübbke-Tidow lists the opening lecture for the exhibition in her record of activities*9. Wiener Zeitung published a gallery review by Claudia Aigner*3.
The opening lecture and newspaper review moved the work from the gallery wall into critical language. Exhibition and article record from different angles how photographs bearing Los Angeles place names were read in Vienna.
A Three-Person Exhibition with Leavitt and Christopher Williams
From September to November 2001, Galerie Mezzanin presented a three-person exhibition of William Leavitt, Santos R. Vasquez, and Christopher Williams*5. Leavitt uses Los Angeles interiors and stage sets to address the viewer’s habit of constructing narratives from fragments*10. Christopher Williams treats camera equipment, lighting, printing, framing, titles, and exhibition design as conditions that produce photographic meaning*11.
The exhibition provides a comparative setting for Vasquez’s work; it does not establish direct influence. Urban theatricality, the conditions of photographic production, and prints carrying district names appeared together, creating a setting in which photography was considered through its mode of presentation as well as its subject.
Homage to the Square: Viewing the Print as an Object
Homage to the Square (2005) placed Vasquez alongside Josef Albers, Donald Judd, Thomas Ruff, Wolfgang Tillmans, Lawrence Weiner, and others*6. The checklist records capitol never sleeps with its title, medium, dimensions, edition, and price, indicating its status in the gallery as a print with exchange value*13.
Among works organized around the square, Vasquez’s near-square urban photograph draws attention simultaneously to image content and the proportions of its support. An image of a specific Los Angeles site appears on the wall beside other works as an object with dimensions and an edition.
PHOTOart: From the Gallery Wall to the Printed Page
Edited by Uta Grosenick and Thomas Seelig, PHOTOart: Photography in the 21st Century was published by DuMont in 2007 and by Aperture in 2008. The volume devotes four pages to each of more than 120 photographers and includes Vasquez among its artists*7. The Baltic Archive catalog record likewise notes his inclusion*8.
A print viewed as an object in the gallery follows page dimensions, spreads, and editorial sequence in a book. The title, containing district, city, and state, retains the site even when the image is reduced. Inclusion in PHOTOart moved Vasquez’s photographs from a Vienna exhibition space into an international photographic anthology, where they entered new comparisons.
Reception Within Conceptual Photography
Vasquez’s work appeared across contemporary art and photographic publishing: the 1999 color-photography exhibition, the 2000 solo show, the 2001 three-person exhibition, Homage to the Square in 2005, and PHOTOart from 2007 onward. Contemporary Art Library connects the 2001 and 2005 exhibitions through its artist page*12.
What recurs in this reception is the movement of images of Los Angeles sites into Vienna exhibitions, comparisons with other artists, and book pages. The work was received as conceptual photography shaped by place-specific titles, print proportions, exhibition arrangements, and publication formats alongside its urban subject matter.
Holding an Urban Site Through Title and Print
In capitol never sleeps, the Los Angeles district name, near-square proportions, gelatin silver process, dimensions, and edition are brought together as the work’s identifying information. The frame isolates one site, the title holds that site in language, and the print becomes an object transported to another city.
capitol never sleeps most clearly demonstrates a method of retaining an urban site through a geographic title, a near-square print, and movement between exhibition and publication. The Citrus District of Los Angeles and an international circuit of display and publishing are connected through the concrete elements of photograph, title, and object.
- Conceptual Art — Described as an artist whose sparsely documented record of exhibition participation is treated as an example of the exhibition system and the source-gap of the 1970s–80s.
An international survey of conceptual photography at the beginning of the twenty-first century, allowing Vasquez’s work to be read in comparison with contemporaries.
View Book Page ↗An archive tracing Vasquez’s exhibitions in Vienna, including the 1999 two-person show, the 2001 three-person presentation, and Homage to the Square in 2005.
View Exhibition Records ↗