Refined Close-Up on Crude: Edward Burtynsky on the Role of Oil

| Print Post This | Like (3) | Comments (0)

When the Corcoran Gallery of Art opens "Edward Burtynsky: Oil" on Oct. 3, it will be opening a show that curator Paul Roth calls "perfect for Washington."

"A couple years ago, we did a traveling Ansel Adams exhibition, and I wanted to make it unique to Washington, D.C.," said Roth, the senior curator of photography and media arts. "So we decided to focus on Adams as an environmentalist and invited a photographer who does landscape photographs with an environmental slant to come in and talk about their work in the context of Adams' work."

The artist who came in was Burtynsky, and, Roth said, "He told us he was working on putting together 10 years' worth of work on the subject of oil, which I thought was perfect for Washington, along with places like Saudi Arabia or Texas."

Burtynsky, a Canadian photographer, documents the production, distribution and use of oil and the role it plays in the modern world. The 56 photographs on display depict the effect of oil on our lives, its rising cost and growing unavailability. Over the course of 10 years of work, Burtynsky traveled around the globe to highlight the astounding effects oil has on the planet.

Burtynsky's photographs are printed at large scale, and he looks at everything from aerial views of oil fields and highways that cut through the landscape to the consequences of using oil — look for photographs of abandoned oil derricks, recycling yards and oil tankers.

"Burtynsky does mostly photographs of industrial landscapes," Roth said. "He shoots places that have been changed because of the sheer scale of industry or mechanization or manufacturing, places where there are enormous factories, places where there are enormous holes in the ground, like mines, and places that are changed by our need for things."

But Roth added, "At the same time, these just aren't straightforward landscapes."

"His images have a strange, mysterious sense about them, and I think at their best they provoke people to wonder what happened to this place," he said.

The Corcoran has scheduled a range of related events, including Burtynsky himself lecturing on "Edward Burtynsky and the Industrial Sublime" on Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. at the gallery.

There's also a screening of "Manufactured Landscapes," a 2006 documentary about the artist's work in China at the AFI Silver on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. Jennifer Baichwal, the director, will be attending. The screening is part of the 2009 DC Labor FilmFest, which runs Oct. 13-19, with screenings at the AFI Silver and other venues around town.

"We've programmed before with the AFI, where we've had shows match up," Roth said. "'Manufactured Landscapes' is a really terrific documentary, and it's one of the best documentaries about an artist that I've seen. It provides great insight into his work."

Burtynsky's photographs are both beautiful and terrifying, and Roth calls him "one of the most respected contemporary photographers in the world today."

"In part because of the documentary, his profile has risen in the last few years, and he's really regarded among the very best landscape photographers, along with Andreas Gursky and Richard Misrach," Roth said.

"For us, it's really an honor to be able to show a living artist as well known in the contemporary art world and show subject matter that makes sense in Washington."

Written by Express contributor Amy Cavanaugh
Photo courtesy Edward Burtynsky/Corcoran

» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., $12, 301-495-6720. (Silver Spring)
» Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW, Nov. 7, 7 p.m., $20, 202-639-1700. (Farragut West/ Farragut North)