The New Industrial Parks is part of a monographic series developed in the 1970s (The Tract Houses, Maryland, Nevada and Park City) wherein the artist Lewis Baltz deals with wide-ranging cultural and philosophical questions about industrial zones in the urban landscape. By focusing his attention on the familiar, Baltz created a powerful work in his critical photographic approach to the built environment.
Under the harsh light of a rectilinear universe full of the closed doors and enigmatic façades of the new industrial parks, the artist gives life to surfaces and textures, captures both the opaque and the transparent, and seems to project, beyond the deceptively banal frontal views, the buildings’ entire life cycle. This tension between the difficulty of the subject and the formal beauty of the resulting images gives the work its visual power.
West Wall, R-ohm Corporation, 16931 Milliken, IrvineSouth Wall, Semicoa, 333 McCormick, Costa MesaSoutheast Corner, Semicoa, 333 McCormick, Costa MesaSouth Wall, Unoccupied Industrial Structure, 16812 Milliken, IrvineWest Wall, Nursery Supplies, 1432 Santa Fe, TustinUnoccupied Warehouse, Santa AnaWest Wall, Unoccupied Industrial Structure, 20 Airway Drive, Costa MesaAlton Road at Murphy Road, looking toward Newport CenterEast Wall, Energy Products Division, Royal Industries, 2040 Dyer Road, Santa AnaBarranca Road, between Von Karman and Milliken Roads, looking SouthwestRoad Construction, Airport Loop Drive, Costa MesaEast Wall, McGaw Laboratories, 1821 Langley, Costa MesaSouth Corner, Parking Area, 23831 El Toro Road, El ToroNorth Wall, Master Specialties Company, 1640 Monrovia, Costa MesaWindow, Industrial Office, Newport BeachSouthwest Wall, Vollrath, 2424 McGaw, IrvineNorthwest Wall, Unoccupied Industrial Spaces, 17875 C and D Skypark Circle, IrvineSouth Wall, Hand K Industries, 1611 S. Boyd Street, Santa AnaNorth Wall, Niguel Hardware, 26087 Getty Drive, Laguna NiguelFoundation Construction, Many Warehouses, 2892 Kelvin, IrvineNorth Wall, Automated Marine International, 1641 McGaw, IrvineDeere Road, between Daimler and Red Hill Avenues, looking SouthEast Wall, Western Carpet Mills, 1231 Warner, Tustin
