Lee Friedlander: Pickup [tbs]

In this compendium Lee Friedlander examines the ordinarypickup truck, a quintessentially American mode of transportation.Unadorned in form as well as function, pickups have longbeen the vehicle of choice for farmers and tradespeople. Theirwell-worn bedsùusually open to the elements, laid bare for allto seeùhave held and hauled all manner of things, from sparetires and jumbles of wires to animals and the occasional person.Friedlander, in his witty and encompassing clear-eyed idiom,has observed this most utilitarian and unapologetically personalobject in its native setting: the cacophonous bricolage that isthe American social landscape.
Living for an hour or more inside his superb way of seeing islike taking a walk down a busy city street on a bright day: yourordinary vision is transformed into something sharper, moreuncanny, more intelligent and more generous. -Teju Cole, the New York Times Magazine