1996.47
Mining Exploration, Utah
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.