Damaged Romanticism: A Mirror of Modern Emotion, Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Texas, 13 September - 15 November 2008; and travelling to Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York, 8 February - 12 April 2009
Literature
Pauli, Manufactured Landscapes, The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky, fig. 1 The Morgan Library & Museum, Mannerism and Modernism: The Kasper Collection of Drawings and Photographs, pl. 100
Catalogue Essay
This work is an artist’s proof, made outside of the edition of 5 and the edition of 10.
Universally termed 'industrial landscapes', Edward Burtynsky's photographs are rooted in the complex, symbiotic and, at times, destructive relationship we have with the earth. In depicting his subjects, Burtynsky balances an exacting, documentarian objectivity with a breathtakingly finessed beauty. His oversized works, whose subjects include quarries in Vermont, shipyards in China and oil refineries in Canada, have a sense of grandiosity and monumentality. There is an initial visual appeal of vibrant colors, details and scale; however, on closer inspection, the environmental dilemma unfolds. They are introspective and meditative, capturing a 'contemplative moment' where landscapes provide visual and emotional resonance.
2001 Chromogenic print. 49 3/4 x 40 in. (126.4 x 101.6 cm) Overall 62 x 52 in. (157.5 x 132.1 cm) Signed in ink, printed title, date, and number AP1 on a label affixed to the reverse of the mount.
