A sampling of critics' reviews of Burtynsky's work (10/16/05)

A sampling of critics' reviews of Burtynsky's work

"Splendor is one way to sum up the vista of 64 large-format photographs at the Musée d'Art Contemporain called 'Manufactured Landscapes: The Photographs of Edward Burtynsky.' "

- Henry Lehman, The Gazette, Montreal, October 23, 2004.

"...the arresting landscape photographs of Edward Burtynsky... are certainly infused with the aura of an epic. Panoramic vistas, dramatic in scope and size, mine a history that reaches back though celebrated 20th century figures like Adams to late 19th century masters of the genre - especially the great chroniclers of human intervention in the American West, Timothy O. Sullivan and Carlton Watkins. ... Ravishing is the word."

- Christopher Knight, The Los Angeles Times, May 25, 2005.

"Burtynsky's work is most often compared to that of German photographer Andreas Gursky, who also photographs vast spaces that serve as metaphors for a global economy. But Gursky emphasizes the gleaming spaces that epitomize this world, from mega-stores to mega-sized office, government and hotel sites, while Burtynsky offers the grungier flip side of this same universe. ... The places in his photographs exist because humankind exploits the Earth's resources on such a vast scale. By picturing those places so seductively, Burtynsky makes us aware of the dangers we present to this planet - and he does so in a way that creeps under the skin in a way that no conventional muckraking photography could."

- Robert L. Pincus, The San Diego Union-Tribune, June 28, 2005.

"With his rich color images - perhaps best described as 'industrial landscapes' - Burtynsky has established himself as one of Canada's most respected photographers."

- Dan Falk, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, May 5, 1998.

"All Mr. Burtynsky's work is consistent in tone. Neither heroic nor condemning, it offers an austere beauty and a simple critical pause, which gives the viewer an opportunity to gaze at the scale of the transformation that has taken place in a short time."

- Murray Whyte, The New York Times, January 4, 2004.

"While Burtynsky's photographs may be disturbing, they also have an unexpected beauty subverting our usual notions of the sublime in nature."

- Hilaire Faberman, curator of the Burtynsky show, The Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, June 1, 2005.

- Compiled by Alexandra Hawryluk

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