Tourism, Culture and Recreation
May 14, 2010
The following is being distributed at
the request of The Rooms Corporation:
Edward Burtynsky: Oil
Exhibition Makes Canadian Premiere at The Rooms
Today The Rooms officially premieres the
first Canadian showing of Edward Burtynsky: Oil, an original
exhibition featuring 56 large-scale chromogenic colour landscapes by
renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky. A major highlight in The Rooms
display of leading international exhibitions, the showing of Oil
solidifies The Rooms ability to not only bring the world's best artistic
and historical exhibitions to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador
but to the entirety of Canada as well.
Edward Burtynsky: Oil is an
examination of one the most important subjects of our time by one of the
most respected and recognized contemporary photographers in the world.
From 1997 through 2009, Mr. Burtynsky travelled internationally to
chronicle the production, distribution, and use of this critical fuel.
In addition to revealing the rarely seen mechanics of its manufacturing,
he photographs the effects of oil on our lives, depicting landscapes
altered by its extraction and by the sprawl generated around its use.
"We are enormously proud to be able to
bring Edward Burtynsky: Oil to The Rooms, to Newfoundland and
Labrador - and to Canada' commented Shelia Perry, Director of The Rooms
Provincial Art Gallery. "Edward Burtynsky's images allude to the
complexity and socio-economic impact of oil and its prevalent nature in
our lives and our own consumerism, while at the same time delivering a
sense of the unrestricted and the sublime; it's a truly captivating
exhibition."
Edward Burtynsky's large-scale colour
photographs render his subjects with transfixing clarity of detail. His
extensive exploration is organized thematically displaying aerial views
of oil fields, the architecture of massive refineries, highway
interchanges ribboning across the landscape and motor culture
aficionados at automotive events. The artist concludes his exploration
with a series of striking "manufactured" landscapes including ancient
oil derricks, vistas of junked vehicles, recycling yards, and mammoth
shipbreaking operations. Mr. Burtynsky photographs the phenomenon of oil
in an effort to portray its complex psychological and physical
dimensions, the images conveying a story of mankind expressed through
our discovery, exploitation, and celebration of this vital natural
resource.
Edward Burtynsky: Oil was
organized by the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC. and made possible
with the generous support of the Scotiabank Group.
An opening reception for Edward
Burtynsky: Oil will be held at The Rooms tonight at 7:30 pm, the
artist will be in attendance and media are invited to attend.
- 30 -
Media contact:
Deanne Fisher
Director of Marketing and Development
The Rooms
709-757-8070
deannefisher@therooms.ca
BACKGROUNDER
Edward Burtynsky is one of the world's
most respected photographers. His colour photographs of industrially
transformed landscapes are in the collections of over 50 major museums
around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada; Bibliothèque
Nationale, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum in New
York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC., and the Reina Sofia
Museum in Madrid. Born in 1955 of Ukrainian heritage in St. Catharines,
Ontario, Mr. Burtynsky is a graduate of Ryerson University and Niagara
College. His father worked on an automobile production line at the
General Motors plant in his hometown; Mr. Burtynsky credits this
experience as his earliest exposure to the subject of industry, and oil
in particular.
Mr. Burtynsky's past solo exhibitions
include Manufactured Landscapes (2003); Before the Flood
(2003); Burtynsky — China (2005); and Edward Burtynsky — Quarries
(2006), all of which traveled extensively to venues in Canada, the
United States, Europe, and Asia. Among many honours, in 2004 Mr.
Burtynsky was awarded a prestigious TED Prize, and in 2007 he was named
an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is the holder of three honorary
Doctorate degrees for his contributions to fine art.
The Rooms is Newfoundland and Labrador's
largest public cultural space with a mandate to collect, research,
exhibit, educate, and develop the province's cultural and historical
treasures into a constant source of information and inspiration for all
residents and visitors. As an emblem of provincial passion and pride,
and though the expertise of The Rooms Provincial Archives, Art Gallery
and Museum Divisions, The Rooms has become "one of the most compelling
and amazing cultural museums of its size in the world" (Emily Wolman,
Lonely Planet Publications).
The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery
Division, responsible for displaying Edward Burtynsky: Oil,
manages a collection of over 8,000 works, ranging widely from
historical, contemporary and international art, to crafts and folk art.
While concentrating on Newfoundland and Labrador artists, the collection
includes numerous other Canadian works.
2010 05 14
10:15 a.m.
|