Contact Information:

Rick Lang

Crealde School of Art

600 St. Andrews Blvd.

Winter Park, FL 32792

To Email Me

407-671-1886

Artist Statement

The focus of my photography for the past 14 years has been exploring the cultural and historical significance of signs found in the rural southern landscape. Located along southern back roads, signs are a reflection of the people where the signs are found. These placards – in a very real way - reflect the people’s efforts to participate in the American Dream. Found in these signs are expressions of love, hate, religion, social gatherings, politics as well as the need to sell a product or service. It is an effort by its citizens to communicate to their community. While none of my photographs have any people in them, they do have a voice. In these signs scattered across the rural landscape, the presence of their makers is felt as sure as it they were there in person. In this body of work I endeavor to explore the role rural signs play in the social landscape of the American South.

Biography

Rick Lang is known as a photographer, educator and curator. His photographic work has been exhibited throughout the Eastern United States, including solo exhibitions at Middle Tennessee State University and The Center for the Study of Southern Culture at The University of Mississippi. His work has been collected by numerous public and private collections including the State of Florida. Rick’s is work published in two books: We the People… of Orange County and Small Town Orange County. He has been on the faculty at Crealdé School of Art since 1989 and has served as the Director of Photography since 1995. Rick has also taught at Valencia Community College and Daytona Beach Community College. He has also taught numerous workshops. Rick has curated photographic exhibitions shown at Crealdé School of Art, including A Shared Legacy: Documentary Photography of Florida from the 1930’s and Today, a survey of documentary photography of Florida (2003). Rick is well respected in the photographic community as represented by the number of times that he is asked to either judge art competitions or lecture on a wide variety of photographic subjects.