Edward Burtynsky is a renowned Canadian photographer with works featured in many leading national and international collections. His photographs are shown in the Guggenheim and MoMA in New York, the national gallery of Canada and the Bibliothèque National in Paris. Besides his career as a photographer, he gives lectures on the subject of photographic art at many significant universities in Canada and the U.S.A.
Burtynsky captures a world that is both unsettling and disturbing, but is grounded in definite reality. In his series entitled 'Oil' his lens follows course of the fuel for this age, from production to application. The developments of mankind have been greatly influenced by it's ability to apply raw elements for its own use. So after a stone age and the times of copper and steel, perhaps we are now still living in the age of oil. This exhibition shows the results of a decade of work on this subject.
These images become unsettling because of their attempt to capture the scale of global oil production. A scale that surpasses the human horizon. The intensity and raw machine power that is applied to the landscape deforms it to a degree that almost makes it seem abstract, beyond comprehension. A disturbing feeling is evoked by the directness with which the exhaustion of earth is depicted. The series 'Oil' forms a powerful document of the transformation of nature by industry. His works are nonetheless not judgemental; the scale, detail and composition of these images aren't applied for political, but for esthetic reasons. Burtynsky tries to create an awareness of the effects of the human quest for comfort and luxury. He presents us with a mirror for our desires.
'Oil' will be on show from the 5th of December until the 9th of January at TORCH gallery Amsterdam, his works are also on show at Huis Marseille on the Keizersgracht 401. The opening of the exhibition at TORCH will be on the 5th form 5pm until 7 pm.