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January 7, 2010
Richard Misrach was one of the first artists to explore the possibilities of large-scale color prints in the 1970s, when most photographers were still shooting in black and white, and photography was seen as a B-level practice by the art magazines, the art writers, the galleries, the museums, the collectors, and even other artists.
Misrach's recent On The Beach work is a representation of people relaxing and playing at the seaside. This body of work was shot with an 8 x10 view camera from the balcony of the same high-rise hotel in Hawaii over a four year period. Misrach is shooting from a fixed place on the balcony.
Richard Misrach untitled, from On the Beach, 2004
The images represent people having a good time and play and relaxing on the beach. The images don't have the horizon, nor is there any kind of sense of context. You just see this vast sea and these people interacting with it. The vastness suggests the sublime of the ocean.
Richard Misrach untitled, from On the Beach, 2004
People may be having fun at the beach but there is also sense of isolation and vulnerability of human beings in the vastness of the seascape as well.
The early colour period of the 1970s expressed in Szarkowski's bold embrace of Eggleston's work and his argument that colour was a viable language paved the way for another rich level of practice, including digital colour photography.
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