landscapes

Posts tagged
with landscapes

Art Photography

Landscape Light Installations by Barry Underwood

Drawing inspiration from early theatrical training, and influenced by methods of staged photography and set design, artist Barry Underwood (previously) transforms ordinary landscapes into something out of science fiction. The artist utilizes LED lights, luminescent material, and other photographic effects to create fleeting abstract landscapes that are influenced by both accidental and incidental light. He shares via his artist statement:

My artwork examines community and land-use in rural, suburban and urban sites. I created this series of installations by researching local agricultural, industrial, and recreational land-use. Curiosity about ecological and social history of specific places drives my work. By revealing the beauty and potential of an ordinary landscape an everyday scene is transformed into a memorable, visual experience. Each photograph image is a dialogue – the result of my direct encounter with nature and history. Inspired by land art, landscape photography and painting, as well as cinema, my images are both surreal and familiar.

Underwood will open an exhibition of both old and new work at Sous Les Etoiles Gallery in New York titled Scenes, on May 29th, 2014. You can see more over on Johansson Projects and read a 2011 interview at Juxtapoz. Images courtesy Sous Les Etoiles Gallery and the artist.

Photography

Landscapes Altered by the World’s Largest Statues

Towering above cities and carved into mountainsides, the gargantuan statues captured in Fabrice Fouillet’s series Colosses were designed to dwarf everything in proximity, to stand as timeless monuments of religious and political icons. Though unlike the tourists and pilgrims who travel great distances to witness these towering structures up close, Fouillet is more interested in how the landscape around each monument has been transformed. He shares via his artist statement:

The series “Colosses” is a study of the landscapes embracing those monumental commemorative statues. Although hugeness is appealing, exhilarating or even fascinating, I was first intrigued by the human need to build gigantic declarations. Then, I asked myself how such works could be connected to their surroundings. How can they fit in the landscapes, despite their excessive dimensions and their fundamental symbolic and traditional functions?

That is why I chose to photograph the statues from a standpoint outside their formal surroundings (touristic or religious), and to favour a more detached view, watching them from the sidelines. This detachment enabled me to offer a wider view of the landscape and to place the monuments in a more contemporary dimension.

Fouillet references a wave of “statuemania” in the 1990s in locations mostly around Asia where many more sculptures are still under construction. The world’s tallest monument, a tribute to the the independence hero Sardar Patel in India, will soon reach a soaring height of 182 meters, nearly twice that of the Statue of Liberty. You can see much more of the series over on his website. All photos courtesy the photographer. (via Slate)

Photography

Surreal Photos of the Tatio Geyser Field in Chile by Owen Perry

Located within the Andes Mountains of northern Chile, El Tatio is the largest geyser field in the southern hemisphere and the third largest in the world. The field has over 80 active geysers and attracts tens of thousands of tourists each year who flock to see the incredible mineral formations and to bathe in hot geyser water. British Columbia-based interactive web designer and visual artist Owen Perry recently visited El Tatio and returned with these spectacular shots. Perry has a beautiful collection of travel and landscape photography you can explore over on Circa 1983. (via Colossal Submissions)

Art

Reflected Landscapes by Victoria Siemer

In this recent series of digital artworks, Brooklyn-based graphic designer Victoria Siemer begins with dreamy landscapes of mountainous forests shrouded in fog and clouds and then inserts giant reflective fragments that rise from the ground. The inversed image creates the uncanny effect of a monolithic mirror that towers over the photograph like a kind of portal. Siemer says via email that the images are open for interpretation, but her work often deals with the idea of visual or emotional fragmentation which originated from her college thesis. Another example is her recent series of humanized computer error messages recently making the rounds. You can see more over on her blog (occasionally nsfw). (via My Modern Met)

Photography

The Ethereal Long Exposure Photography of Darren Moore

Self-taught photographer Darren Moore creates ethereal black and white landscapes using a method called daytime long exposure, where a special filters are attached to a camera lens to reduce the amount of light. These neutral density filters allow for the shutter to open for extended periods of time in broad daylight, from 30 seconds to upward of 15 minutes for a single exposure. Moore shoots mostly in locations around England, where he frequently visits causeways, breakwaters, shipwrecks, and other features along the shore.

You can see more of Moore’s photography over on Flickr. He’ll also have work later this April in a group show at the Patchings Art Centre.

 

Art

Oil Landscapes Transformed into Mosaics of Color by Erin Hanson

While doing undergraduate work at UC Berkeley, artist Erin Hanson took some time off from studying art to obtain a degree in bioengineering. After graduating she moved to the outskirts of Las Vegas where a climb at Red Rock Canyon inspired her artistic career yet again. She decided to commit to creating a new painting each week, a process she continues today, eight years later.

Hanson transforms landscapes into abstract mosaics of color using an impasto paint application, where thick globs of paint create almost sculptural forms on the canvas. She tries to use a few brush strokes as possible, without layering, a process that’s been called “open impressionism.” Hanson is represented by too many galleries to list here, though she does have a number of available paintings listed on her site, as well as prints.