VENICE, CA.-Commissary Arts will show new photographs by Eric Tucker and Rae Scarton, September 22 to November 18, 2007. Working as an artistic team, Tucker and Scarton have spent two years developing this photographic project, which explores the aesthetics of mass development and urban sprawl edging across the landscape of the Inland Empire. The resulting series of subtly conceptual large format color images, titled Exit East, is Commissary Arts’ inaugural exhibition.

The photographs chronicle the artists’ fascination with the landscapes and interior spaces of “model” communities, which for more than thirty years have cycled across California’s desert floor, between Los Angels and Palm Springs, revealing a persistent pattern of growth and decay. Expanding on the current visual lexicon of suburban images, Tucker and Scarton are unflinchingly direct in their approach. The images in the exhibition reveal the odd formality and pervasive fantasy of these places that belies an ideal realization of the American Dream. It is land where little is precious, nothing is permanent, and everything is disposable.

Drawing upon influences as varied as Richard Mizrach, Martin Parr and Lee Friedlander, and the writings Joan Didion and Mike Davis, Tucker and Scarton’s vision combines straight observation with the elusive subtleties of mood and irony. “The story takes time to unfold, just like the driving, just like the place. Looking at these picture is in itself a gradual process of revelation analogous to the exploration itself,” writes Los Angeles based art critic and author Shana Nys Dambrot in her introduction to the Exit East limited edition boxed portfolio, also debuting in the exhibition.

Tucker studied photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA and has been making photographs for 20 years. He has enjoyed critical success as a commercial photographer receiving awards from Communication Arts, Graphis, Photo District News, and Print Magazine. His photographs have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Esquire, Newsweek, and Time Magazine.

Scarton studied English and Italian Literature at Loyola University Chicago/Rome. Through her current work as a photographer and set designer, Scarton has revolved around many sides of the camera. Her work as a set designer, was recently published in The New York Times Magazine.

A reception for the artists will be held on Saturday, September 22 from 6 to 9pm. The exhibition will be on view until November 18.

Commissary Arts is a new gallery space in Venice presenting the work by emerging and mid-career contemporary artists based in Los Angeles through a mix of solo and curated group exhibitions.