NEW YORK, NY.- Five Continents Editions announces the publication of Manhattan Project, a new photographic monograph by Jan Staller.

For nearly fifty years, Staller has photographed the New York metropolitan area, with a sustained focus on Manhattan’s West Side—a personal “Point Lobos.” His work has long diverged from conventional views of the city. Instead of documenting icons and skylines, he creates expressive images that transform overlooked materials into art.

Manhattan Project continues this vision. Photographed at construction sites throughout New York, the series isolates rebar, mesh, and other utilitarian materials against white grounds, revealing their sculptural and ephemeral qualities. Inspired by Eva Hesse, Gego, and Ellsworth Kelly, the images blur the boundaries between photography, drawing, painting, and sculpture.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, in his foreword, writes: “An artist photographer who sees what we don’t see… he reimagines the landscape—the cityscape—that so many of us call home.” Brett Littman adds: “Staller’s photos over five decades give us a singular vision of the city and afford us a glimpse into the ephemeral moments of solitude and inherent beauty that we often don’t even apprehend.”

Staller’s photographs are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, SFMOMA, MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and numerous other institutions. He has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Hasselblad Foundation. His previous monographs include Frontier New York (Hudson Hills Press, 1989) and On Planet Earth (Aperture, 1997).

Manhattan Project is available now from Five Continents Editions.