OIL

Edward Burtynsky created a new form of epic history painting, turning his hasselblad lens to a fever dream. The stunning details from improbable perches, in strange and beautiful colours, with a clinical accuracy pointing at a critique to the civilization.  The nature transformed through the industry is the predominate theme in the work of the Canadian photographer. Through his striking photographs of recycling yards, mine tailings, quarries, refineries, ship breaking, the industrialization of china and the path of oil, he documents the massive human incursion into and upon the earth. Burtynsky has been selected as recipient for the 2011 Mocca Award from Canada, in acknowledgement of his extraordinary body of photography that focuses upon the human impact on the landscape for which he has received widespread national and international recognition. His pictures are highly regarded for their formal and aesthetic qualities as they are powerful and even disturbing documents of the impact that these activities have upon the landscape and the ecology. The photographs have an evidential quality, in the manner of crime scenes. Looking down from above, we see the indications of mastery and control. Burtynsky’s seems one from on high. The detachment of this view imparts a seductive, undeniable power.

http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes.html

Oil, Edward Burtynsky 2001