Hole in the Sun

Rating:
Summary: "Hole" in one
Review: Just how good can a bunch of photos of a swimming pool be? That is the question raised once you hear about "Hole in the Sun," one of talented artist Viggo Mortensen's many books. Yes, it's photos. Of a swimming pool. And Mortensen's exceptional photographic skill makes it all come alive.

Mortensen displays different abstract photographs -- some color, and some black and white only -- in a sort of visual silence. At first he shows the quiet pool, undisturbed and photographed from many angles, even the reflections in the increasingly murky water. Then the pool is abandoned, and the wear and tear on it is revealed.

It's a surprisingly poignant book. There's no poetry, not much but the pictures. And without anything to distract the reader, Mortensen shows us the many facets of the pool. As it deteriorates, his pictures become sadder and lonelier-feeling, like watching a beautiful old statue falling into disrepair.

And Mortensen proves that yes, just about anything can be made interesting in the hands of a skilled photographer. He captures the eerie quality of cacti reflected in blue, and a little white butterfly drowned in the water. Some -- like the stark "Blue 17," are so abstract that you can't tell what they are. His color photographs are startlingly vivid, so that readers can even see the splotches of green on the pool walls.

Painter/poet/actor/photographer Viggo Mortensen again proves his skill with a camera, in a book that shows that anything can make a good photo. Beautiful and skillful.