MORE GASOLINE STATIONS is a work of memory. A work of photographic memory, first of all, since the vast majority of the buildings presented here have now disappeared. A work of human memory as well, since the text that accompanies these photographs was written in 2012, while the journey it recounts took place in 1988. It is also a mémoire in the scholarly sense of the word—a dissertation, an essay. I recount a journey that took me nearly 15,000 kilometers across the North American continent, in search of old automobile service stations.

The title of this work is not accidental. It pays tribute to Edward Ruscha, the Californian artist who, in 1962, published his first artist’s book, TWENTY SIX GASOLINE STATIONS, a compilation of black-and-white photographs of service stations taken along Route 66 during a trip between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City.

MORE GASOLINE STATIONS is conceived as a photographic narrative, but also as a travel narrative through both space and time. Through space, first of all, along the roads stretching from one coast of America to the other. Then through time, since throughout this account I make reference to cultural elements that are part of U.S. history, to the architectural styles of these service stations, but also to the culture of my own generation—the one that turned twenty in 1980.

MORE GASOLINE STATIONS is a two-volume work. The first volume is the written account and is available on Blurb. Here is the second volume, consisting of photographs.