“When people go to the beach, they often relax and play in a way that mimics death—floating Ophelia-like or burying themselves in the sand; I worked with these uncanny rituals, the strange ambiguities of stress and ease, life and death.”
—Richard Misrach
Known for his ethereal depictions of the American Southwest and stunning use of color, Richard Misrach photographs dramatic land and seascapes, and, more recently, produces breathtakingly complex abstractions. Misrach's work engages with traditional ideas of the sublime landscape, as their immense beauty engulfs both the subjects in his photographs as well as the viewer.
On the Beach, one of Misrach's most famous series, features spectacular aerial images of the sea and beach that convey both the vulnerability and preciousness of life. One of the most pervasive themes present in his work is the relationship between humans and their environment, depicting our impact on the world through feats of engineering as in his Golden Gate Bridge series, and with his Desert Cantos with nuclear testing in the American desert.
2004 Chromogenic print, printed 2005, flush-mounted and mounted again. 70 1/5 x 111 1/2 in. (178.3 x 283.2 cm) Overall 75 1/2 x 116 in. (191.8 x 294.6 cm) Signed, dated, numbered 1/5, and annotated '#586-04' in ink on a label affixed to the reverse of the frame.
