Brian Ulrich’s photographic investigation of the American consumer psyche has for the past decade examined the complex relationships consumers form with the industries that seek their consumption (Copia, 2002-2006), the trickle-down movement of consumer goods (Thrift, 2005-2007), and the end remains of dead malls and big box stores, stripped of product and identity (Dark Stores, 2008-2011).

Ulrich’s upcoming exhibition at Julie Saul Gallery looks at this decade-spanning body of work, juxtaposing photographs with artifacts from the past (a vintage sign in florescent italics announcing Fast Food), objects culled from an expansive archive, amassed by the photographer in simultaneity with the development of his images.

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Is This Place Great Or What: Artifacts and Photographs opens Thursday, March 22^nd at Julie Saul Gallery, New York City.

This exhibition coincides with Ulrich’s first published monograph, Is This Place Great or What, published by Aperture Foundation, with an essay by Juliet B. Schorr and 95 plates ($35, available here).

Also consider Ulrich’s limited-edition, “Chicago, Illinois, 2005,” from the series Thrift ($600, available here).

Below is an update on some of the latest goings on with three Aperture artists. On view at the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery in New York, The New Antiquity, features work from artist Tim Davis. Similar in tone to My Life in Politics, Davis surveys contemporary culture with his decisive lens, always with an element of wit and skepticism.

Photographer Brian Ulrich of MP3: Midwest Photographers Publication Project, is on display at Robert Koch Gallery in San Francisco. His exhibition, Dark Stores responds to the 2001 call from the U.S. government to stimulate the economy through shopping. The work presents a skeptical gaze at the over-developed suburban retail landscape that is instantly recognizable, even considering his omission of logos and brand names.

One of the artists from Aperture’s The Edge of Vision: Abstraction in Contemporary Photography, artist Silvio Wolf has a solo exhibition in Milan, Before Time, featuring works created specifically for Galleria Nicoletta Rusconi that explores the dynamic relationship between object and viewer. Wolf’s project was conceived as a single work consisting of seven different elements, which form a series of stations. After spending years examining images and their role in contemporary society, Wolf now shifts focus to the viewer and to the resulting interaction from this relationship. Click here to purchase a limited-edition print from Silvio Wolf.

Tim Davis: The New Antiquity
Thursday, September 10—Saturday. October 24, 2009
Greenberg Van Doren Gallery
730 Fifth Avenue at 57th street
New York

Brian Ulrich: Dark Stores
Thursday, September 10—Saturday, October 31, 2009
Robert Koch Gallery
49 Geary Street, Suite 550
San Francisco, California

Silvio Wolf: Before Time
Friday, September 18—Saturday, November 7, 2009
Galleria Nicoletta Rusconi
Corso Venezia, 22
Milan, Italy