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Edward Burtynsky

Residual Landscapes

Studies of Industrial Transfiguration

Introduction and Interview by Michael Torosian

2001



Since the inception of photography, the landscape has largely been a genre concerned with the contemplation of sublime nature. By the late twentieth century, however, the seismic effects wrought by industry demanded a new vision. For the last twenty years this has been the artistic concern of photographer Edward Burtynsky.

Burtynsky characterizes his theme as, "the landscape changed in the pursuit of progress". Working with a large-format view camera, Burtynsky has journeyed from the mines of Sudbury to the marble quarries of Italy. And what he found in the aftermath of the extraction of resources, the effluence of industry and the reclamation of materials was the "residual landscape", a poetic document embedded with metaphors for architecture, archeology and art.

Residual Landscapes presents a portfolio of twenty-four photographs accompanied by an interview conducted by Michael Torosian.

Edward Burtynsky's work is in a number of public collections including: Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Specifications

The text has been composed in Linotype Optima and Palatino and hand printed letterpress on Hahnemühle Biblio paper. The brilliance of the original prints has been preserved in the sumptuous portfolio of four-colour stochastic reproductions, printed on Utopia Premium ivory paper, and varnished. The edition has been quarter bound, by hand, in black Canapetta book cloth with burgundy Bugra paper over boards. The book measures 7 3/8 x 9 inches; 60 pages. Limited to a numbered edition of 200.

Variant Edition

Twenty copies of Residual Landscapes have been set aside for inclusion in a special edition. Each book is accompanied by a full colour Giclée print on Arches paper of the photograph Rock of Ages No. 4, Abandoned Section, Adam -Pirie Quarry, Barre, Vermont, 1991, signed by the artist and presented in a folio. Book and folio are housed in a slipcase.

Awards

Alcuin Society Citation, Limited Edition Book Design.

Status

Out of Print.