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Preview image of work. gelatin silver print,  Mining Exploration, Utah 11464

1996.47

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Mining Exploration, Utah

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Artist

Emmet Gowin (Danville, Virginia, 1941 - )

Title

Mining Exploration, Utah

Creation Date

1988

Century

20th century

Dimensions

9 7/16 in. x 9 9/16 in. (23.9 cm. x 24.3 cm.)

Classification

Photographs

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

gelatin silver print

Credit Line

Museum Purchase, Lloyd O. and Marjorie Strong Coulter Fund

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

1996.47

Emmet Gowin’s topographical photographs are characterized by a sense of exploration, namely through landscape imagery of the United States and Europe taken from a plane. Exploring iconic geologic features, Gowin uses aerial photography to capture abstract patterns and formations that are suggestive of the earth’s beginnings, toeing the line between the real and the surreal. In Mining Exploration, Utah, Gowin’s camera captures what the artist calls a “working landscape” – a landscape caught in tension between the long-term evolution of the earth and the hand of the human being that seeks to alter its processes. “Even in destroying the earth,” he says, “we have to observe the natural order. Gravity still works, water still runs downhill.” Gowin is meticulous about the developing and printing of his photographs, often using various techniques to manipulate delicate tonal variations.

Keywords: aerial photography   aerial view   highway   industry   landscape   river   road   the American West   the environment   topographic photography   transportation