When I first saw the series which contains these images, I thought Misrach had left out something very obvious. Namely, photographs of some of the scientific research stations which dot the ice around both our planet’s poles. Almost inevitably, I felt, these stations convey the inadequacy of mankind’s present efforts to deal with global warming.
But upon reflection, I concluded that the artist probably considers the missions of these research stations to be mankind’s best hope for dealing with the climate change problem. And he refrained from photographing the stations at all, in order to not convey the impression that he was critical of their missions.
*Footnote: Four previous OEN articles of mine featuring the photography of Richard Misrach can be found here. In its opening paragraph, this article from February, 2009, contains three click-ons to my three previous OEN articles featuring Misrach’s photography.
** All words in quotation marks are courtesy of Richard Misrach and Fraenkel Gallery, Pace/MacGill Gallery, and Marc Selwin Fine Art. All the images are courtesy of that individual and those institutions, as well as courtesy of artnet and its Artist Works Catalogues. At its AWC, there is this, “artnet offers these catalogues free to the public as an educational resource. Simply click on an individual artist's image to begin, and check back often to browse new catalogues.”
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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