I saw some great shows in San Francisco last week.
Ed Burtynsky's "Quarries" series was on view at Robert Koch Gallery. I love Burtynsky's work and to see it in the flesh is amazing. What struck me most about the technical aspects of this series is how painterly they appear- the rocks and machinery in the images are smooth, clean, kind of perfect. He writes about the negative aspects of the process of mining, how we need to carve out these natural materials in order to create our physical world (positive structures) but leave behind this void... and of course there are also the literal environmental impacts as well.
Then I saw Richard Misrach and Ralph Eugene Meatyard at Fraenkel Gallery. Misrach's exhibit was mostly his long night exposures in the desert, repeating the theme of a stark lonely tree or palm or cactus in the center while the light bleeds off around the edges, with a sepia halo. Meatyard's show was a tender retrospective. My favorites were blurry group shots of people- I assume- vague and indistinct.
Also, Larry Swarm's new tornado series looks amazing, I wish I was still on the West Coast to see it.
Back in New York I went to the opening of another Misrach show at Pace Macgill. That fire image is outstanding.