Ed Burtynsky - one thumb up, one down?

[tim atherton]

I just wrote a blog post about Ed Burtynsky

http://photo-muse.blogspot.com/

I'm wondering, am I actually the only one who's not quite so keen on him?

[Bruce Watson]

You don't have to like everyone. You can like some better than others. You don't even have to defend your choices.

[tim atherton]

You don't have to like everyone. You can like some better than others. You don't even have to defend your choices.

yeah - but with most photogs I don't like it doesn't take me too long to figure out why

[Capocheny]

Hi Tim,

Actually, I like a couple of his images but I'm not so sure that I'd run out and drop a pile of money on them though.

A friend has 3 or 4 originals in her house. Her favorite is the one where the workers are dragging a huge anchoring chain from one of the massive ships being torn down in India. She explained that she sees it as being "symbolic of the struggle she's gone through throughout her entire life."

So, I suppose it's like a piece of music... sometimes it'll strike a chord in your soul and, sometimes, it doesn't do anything whatsoever.

But, I agree with Bruce... you certainly don't have to justify your likes and dislikes because art/music is a very personal thing.

Cheers

[David Louis]

Yeah I’m with you on this one Tim. I was a fan of Burtynsky once, a while ago, but I’m not a fan anymore. I’ve seen several of his shows here in NYC over the years. His early work – the railcuts series and to a lesser extent the quarry series - showed some promise. I held out the hope that he would offer a North American vision to parallel to that of Stuth, Gursky, Esser and the rest of the Düsseldorf School. Unfortunately that hasn’t happened. I think his photos are visually appealing when seen close-up, hanging on a big white wall in a open gallery, but they are not interesting in any sort of deep way. Why? Ken Johnson’s review in the Times, which you noted in your blog, summed it up well…. pictorial rhetoric, coupled with stifled composition, and a lack of contextualization leads to big yawns.

[Jack Flesher]

I love his work -- awesome eye and great image quality. But, that is my opinion only and I respect that others will vary -- that is the spice of life.

Cheers,

[Frank Petronio]

Maybe he'll get better with age? Most of those 19th-Century travel togs like Francis Firth and Carleton Watkins made some pretty darn boring, flat pictures. That we treasure now.

Given our fascination with detailed pix of the past, that would mean come 2106 AD the Gigapixel guys would be that much more famous and respected. And their pictures make Burtynsky look like a freaking David LaChapple on LSD.

Tim's point about never quite clicking the "buy" button is a good one. Warms my conservative belly to see the free market judging art.

[Greg Lockrey]

Yeah, but a lot of art is bought for if it "fits the decor" and nothing else. Now if it's stolen....

[Deniz Merdanogullari]

I saw his show here in Vancouver and was impressed by the images. I can;t say he is my favourite but i did enjoy the show very much.
Tischy on the other hand....

[Martin Miller]

Two thumbs up for me, Tim. I saw Burtynsky's work in person for the first time in his Manufactured Landscapes retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum in Nov. 2005. There were some 80 40x50" and larger works in that show and afterward I felt stunned and awed. I liked all of his series but felt that he reached his pinnacle in the ship breaking series. Not only did I find the color moving on an aesthetic level (sorry, I still respond to aesthics despite its postmodern banishment), but the images had something of a biblical-epic quality. This was the best contemporary photography that I have seen, the "Struthskys" included. I never agreed with the "National Geographic writ large" criticism. I think his strong guiding concept relieves him of that charge.

It is true that ths was only my first experience with these images in person, so I have to wait for another to see how well the feeling holds up. Sound like you've seen his work on many occasions. Did you have reservations from the start?