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The Arts Intel Report

Burtynsky: Extraction/Abstraction

Edward Burtynsky, Salinas #2, 2013.

Feb 14 – May 6, 2024
Duke of York's HQ, King's Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4RY, United Kingdom

“I’m still optimistic that we have the tools to solve the problems, or at least the worst of them—and that we can if we put our minds to it. My optimism seems to get a little thinner when it comes to whether we’re going to get there in time.” That’s the photographer Edward Burtynsky in 2018, discussing the climate crisis with Apollo magazine. Influenced by pioneers Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Carleton Watkins, Burtynsky has traveled the globe shooting large-format photographs of classically beautiful landscapes and unhealthy industrial ones. Burtynsky likes to shoot from a high vantage point, and recently he started to use drones and helicopters to capture land from way up. This career-spanning exhibition is Burtynsky’s largest yet. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: Edward Burtynsky/courtesy Flowers Gallery, London