MARCO VAN MIDDELKOOP

MARCO VAN MIDDELKOOP /// COLORS OF WATER

Water has no color of its own, color in water always refers to something extra: sky or foliage reflected, water bedding shining through, algae and other microlife, metals or minerals brought in from the soil or otherwise - sources that are either natural or the result of industrial pollution, sometimes harmless or sometimes disastrous; and ironically the worst kinds of ecological disaster create the most striking colors of water, delighting the eye until they turn bleak or black when the spectator realizes what causes this luring beauty and at what price.

For me the lovely little orange streams in Owens Lake turned pitchblack when I learned how this lake had fallen dry after in the early 20th century the Los Angeles Aquaduct had been built, turning it into a salt bed and mineral mining area from which alkali storms plague the surrounding regions, causing various illnesses. The dazzling cyanoblue of a large basin in Baha California (Mexico) paled when I found out it was brought about by waste from huge power plants providing electricity to tens of thousands of households. The intense and ecstatic green of an Arizona pond washed into grim greyness when I realized poisonous mine tailings pigmented the water.

I felt this cruel beauty might not only speak to me but also to others, and might arouse an interest in what had brought it about. So I decided to document these colors of water as signals of ecological impact of mining, water supply, farming, irrigation, salt industry and power plants. Next to Owens Dry Lake, the Cerro Prieto power plants areas and Arizona mining areas, I portrayed Salton Sea, the San Francisco Salt Ponds and Searles Lake (Trona) - all are the result of human interventions in the landscape and all are polluted areas though not all equally disastrously. A few areas have entered the first phase of restoration. For most areas, however, this still is a faraway future.



☁ MARCO VAN MIDDELKOOP
☁ MARCO VAN MIDDELKOOP @ MINIMAL EXPOSITION

MARTIN STRANKA

MARTIN STRANKA was born in Most on Friday the thirteenth in April 1984 in Czech Republic, graduated high school in Litomerice, where he lived more than 20 years and then he finished the university in Prague. He was involved into photography since 2007, but he never studied it and he has been always self-taught himself. He perceives photography as an unique space located in a balance and serenity. His work exists in that narrow space of few seconds between dreaming and awaking.

During the last two years Martin gathered over thirty international photography awards. There is a list some of them, these are really valuable like: Emerging Talent Award in Nikon Photo Contest International 2010-2011 with over than 60.000 entries, Finalist of Sony World Photography Awards 2010 with over than 43.000 entries; 1.st place in International Photo Award 2010, Directors Choice of Center International Awards with over than 6.000 entries; Finalist of Photographer Of The Year 2010, over 114.000 entries; 3.rd place in Digital Photographer of the Year Awards with over 300.000 entries, Artist of the week at The Saatchi Gallery.

He has created book covers for the biggest New York publishers like Harper Collins Publishers or Sterling Publishing. Also he has co-operated with other book publishers, music publishers or artists in person around the world.

His solo and group exhibitions were possible to see from South and North America, through Europe up to Asia. He loves the smell of autumn and sparkling grains of dust floating in the sunset.



☁ MARTIN STRANKA

JHINA ALVARADO

JHINA ALVARADO /// FORGOTTEN MEMORIES
oil on wood panels.

☁ JHINA ALVARADO

EDWARD BURTYNSKY

Pictures from the OIL series.


EDWARD BURTYNSKY /// STATEMENT

Exploring the Residual Landscape

"Nature transformed through industry is a predominant theme in my work. I set course to intersect with a contemporary view of the great ages of man; from stone, to minerals, oil, transportation, silicon, and so on. To make these ideas visible I search for subjects that are rich in detail and scale yet open in their meaning. Recycling yards, mine tailings, quarries and refineries are all places that are outside of our normal experience, yet we partake of their output on a daily basis.

These images are meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence; they search for a dialogue between attraction and repulsion, seduction and fear. We are drawn by desire - a chance at good living, yet we are consciously or unconsciously aware that the world is suffering for our success. Our dependence on nature to provide the materials for our consumption and our concern for the health of our planet sets us into an uneasy contradiction. For me, these images function as reflecting pools of our times."


BIOGRAPHY

Edward Burtynsky is known as one of Canada's most respected photographers. His remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes are included in the collections of over fifty major museums around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California.

Born in 1955 of Ukrainian heritage at St. Catharines, Ontario, Burtynsky is a graduate of Ryerson University (Bachelor of Applied Arts in Photography) and studied Graphic Art at Niagara College in Welland. He links his early exposure to the sites and images of the General Motors plant in his hometown to the development of his photographic work. His imagery explores the intricate link between industry and nature, combining the raw elements of mining, quarrying, manufacturing, shipping, oil production and recycling into eloquent, highly expressive visions that find beauty and humanity in the most unlikely of places. In 1985, Burtynsky also founded Toronto Image Works, a darkroom rental facility, custom photo laboratory, digital imaging and new media computer-training centre catering to all levels of Toronto's art community. Mr. Burtynsky also sits on the board of directors for: Toronto’s international photography festival, Contact and The Ryerson Gallery and Research Center.


EDWARD BURTYNSKY's photographs are on view @ the McCord Museum in Montreal from October 6 2011 to Janurary 8 2012. See the link below.

☁ EDWARD BURTYNSKY
☁ EDWARD BURTYNSKY'S DOCUMENTARY ON YOUTUBE
☁ EDWARD BURTYNSKY @ THE MCCORD MUSEUM
☁ EDWARD BURTYNSKY @ RATSDEVILLE

SERGIO ALBIAC

THE QUEEN

LES DEMOISELLES D'AVIGNON

MARILYN MONROE

VAN GOGH

LAS MENINAS

MONA LISA


CONTENT IS QUEEN

Content is Queen from Sergio Albiac on Vimeo.

SERGIO ALBIAC /// GENERATIVE VIDEO PAINTINGS

On a technical level, this piece (CONTENT IS QUEEN) is a result of my research in breaking the limitations of the static image in a contemporary revision of the tradition of painting. The portraits are created using an innovative generative technique that I have developed called “generative video painting”. It differs from previous attempts of video collage (like the techniques developed by David Hockney, mixing simultaneous points of view of an action) or video mosaic (where still images are represented by whole videos acting as pixels when properly reduced in size). My technique uses regions of video content to effectively represent or “paint” heterogeneous regions of the image. Both the partial content of the videos and the whole image are fully visible at the same time, widening the possibilities to deliver meaning in a contemporary aesthetic language.



☁ SERGIO ALBIAC
☁ SERGIO ALBIAC'S FLICKR