Emmet Gowin: Changing the Earth

Rating:
Summary: Documenting Ruinous Relations With The Land
Review: Like a great deal of aerial photography (Bradford Washburn's naturalistic mountain work immediately comes to mind in this connection), Emmet Gowin's meticulously detailed portfolio depicting man's ambition writ large upon the surface of our planet can often be 'read' as much as abstract art as documentary record. As art, this series of images of a wounded planet is so deceptively compelling it is easy to become lost in the sensuousness of the aesthetic moment Gowin repeatedly creates and forget that the subject matter being systematically explored is intrinsically disturbing and of concern. Indeed, the experience of finding so much beauty in landscapes of man-made desolation and ruin is unnerving. Yet it is undeniable that from a distance the patterns on the Earth made by irrigation pivots, toxic chemical ponds, missile burial trenches, mining pits, and numerous other manifestations of human 'development' without limits are endlessly unique and dramatic. Paradoxically, it is precisely this nexus of visually stimulating, geometrically intricate imagery generated in the context of wanton exploitation and destruction of the land that sustains the narrative and aesthetic power of Changing The Earth. One is absorbed in the beauty of the photography just long enough to catch sight and become painfully aware of the pervasive, intensely consequential, problem that demands attention and thought. Thus lessons for the future abound in the pages of this volume! One day our way of taking the Earth for granted by first depleting its resources for immediate gain and then dumping what is no longer wanted or useful wherever is convenient, will be seen as the opulent conceit and obscene luxury that it surely is. Until that day, studies like Changing The Earth bare witness to our collective folly, greed and irresponsibility.

Rating:
Summary: the politics I could do without ...
Review: The images in this superbly printed book which interest me are those which suggest 1) pictorial texture and 2) primitive art. I see a parallel between some of these images and several of Tapies paintings and some of the images of the walls of the Altamira pre-historic caves. I'm not terribly moved by images whose aim is to portray environmental devastation as in general I'm not interested in political representation of meaning in art.

In general I'm solely interested in those photographic images which reveal something new. The subject matter doesn't matter at all. The texts that accompany this book are terribly political and almost chauvinistic. They attempt at forming a living icon. America is personality driven and practices the cult of personality. These texts are no exception. They attempt at telling the crowd that Emmet Gowin is a "great American artist". This is done with numerous references to other "icons" of American Art namely Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, the simplistic Harry Callahan, the politics of the US Congress, American intelligentsia such as the "philosophy" of Frederich Sommer, references to American depositories of culture such as the National Endowment of the Arts, Princeton University, The Rhode Island School of Art, etc, etc. ~In other cases these people refer to Kerouac, or the American Dream. This kind of nationalistic invocation is typical of American art discourses. Emmet serves the purpose and was delighted with the initiative. Had he not been these texts wouldn't have been printed and the book not published. It was published by another depository of American art - the University of Yale, the "famous" university that awarded a honorary degree to a liar, fraudster and killer - Bush Junior.

Resuming: there are a few images in this book which are great images. But that's about it. When they begin to articulate art, vision, emotion with politics, especially American politics I take a long break from things American. You can only eat American for a given amount of time. So after this break let's get back to serious stuff please. We were discussing Bourdieu's concept of "cultural capital" ...

Until next time!

Rating:
Summary: Stunning beauty
Review: This book despite it's somewhat horrific subject matter has a beauty so deep and profound it restores my faith in interest in Black and White image making. Beautifully printed it is a book that any budding black and white landscape photographer should own.