December 12 - February 2, 2008
Projex Mtl gallery is proud to announce that American photographer Lawrence Beck is returning to Montreal for the world debut of his latest work, Monte Rosa. This exhibition also brings together a selection of landscape works from the ‘Water Falls’ and ‘ Thickets’ series.
Though Beck was born and raised in New York City, the quintessential urban environment, his fascination with nature originates from spending most of his summers in the Italian Alps, where, he says,
“Nature is above you, under you and to both sides. Playing in the torrents, or climbing mountains and studying the visuals around me, ingrained an admiration for the order in nature, structure, subtlety, and complexions found everywhere you look.”1
Beck’s photography explores the layers of today’s landscapes. Ours is a time when the connections between humanity and unspoiled wilderness have been mostly severed. Indeed, The Economist reports that after this year, for the first time in our history, the majority of humanity will live in cities. It is perhaps appropriate, then, that just as the beginning of the industrial revolution brought with it the romantic works of such 19th-century painters of the Hudson River School as Albert Bierstadt and John Frederick Kensett, the fledgling ecological revolution brings with it an artistic emphasis on the relationship between humanity and nature.
Are not all natural landscapes a portentous sight in a world of climate change, industrialized agriculture, urban sprawl, etc? Doesn’t the illusion of the pristine, romantique landscape disappear when the subject matter is- seemingly inevitably- put into the context of today’s corrupted, contaminated nature? Can we still appreciate landscape photography for its ample, innocent beauty?
“It may be more difficult with all of the interference imposed by the media and the problems we are confronted with. For instance, the size of the glacier on the Monte Rosa is approximately half what it was when I was a kid. This is an alarming fact, but doesn't change how I view the immense beauty of this place I know so well.”2
In his work we can appreciate a visual reconciliation between the harsh realities of contemporary life and the aesthetic tradition of the genre - Mother Nature may be sick but she is, still, a breathtaking patient.
“It seems appropriate to say that even though nature is no longer viewed with the fascination that it once held in the minds of artists, it continues to amaze and call us back. Mostly, nature in any form, be it cultivated in the botanical garden, or wild at 2,600 meters, remains one of the most spiritual loaded sources of inspiration and must retain a high degree of reverence from all people, urban included.”3
Lawrence Beck is represented by Sonnabend Gallery in New York, and Galerie Rodolphe Janssen in Brussels. His photographs are found in many public and private collections in the Canada, USA and Europe.
Jessica Begault December 2007
1,2,3 : Lawrence Beck
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Exhibitions
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