Gas Stop is more than a catalogue of industrial variations like Bernd and Hilla Becher’s studies of water tanks; and it’s not exactly a study of humanity like August Sander’s portraits of the German people. But Freund’s project is as essential as either of those, a record of a time when design idiosyncrasy was more common, when a cross-country trip, even at its most mundane, still had the promise of aesthetic surprise around every corner. read more...

Pat Padua is a writer, photographer, native Washingtonian and Oxford comma defender. The Washington Post called him "a talented, if quirky, photographer." His arts writing has appeared in DCist, Blogcritics and In the Muse, the Performing Arts blog of the Library of Congress and is a member of the Washington Area Film Critics Association.