toxic beauty: painterly photos of the polluted gowanus...
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11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 1 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
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Toxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal
BROOKLYN ENVIRONMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY GOWANUS CANAL STEVEN HIRSCH UPCOMING EXHIBITION
By CHELSEA MATIASH
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11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 2 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Astraios,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
Steven Hirsch is a New York native. He has lived in the city his entire life, but until 2010 had never ventured to Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal and decided totake a day trip. On that day, Mr. Hirsch saw something ethereal appear on the water– a bubbling eruption of oil– and captured the photos that inspired his2014 series “Gowanus: Off The Water’s Surface.” The solo exhibition, on view now at Lilac Gallery New York through Dec. 1, features more than 25abstract, painterly photographs of the highly-polluted Gowanus Canal.
Mr. Hirsch’s images simulate an Impressionistic painting’s quality, in both “hue and texture,” the gallery said in a news release, adding “in his explorationof the industrial wasteland, [he] finds a saturated palette of golds, deep purples, gleaming silvers, ebony blacks, phalto blues, and intense pinks.”
Mr. Hirsch describes his images as autobiographical, taking root in his own experiences. “I make photographs when I feel an impulse, when somethingcreates a need to see what I experience as a photograph. The goal was simply to see what the water would look like as a photograph,” he said in aninterview. Mr. Hirsch would visit Gowanus after rainfalls, because it created a runoff from the nearby industrial waste, creating slicks and pools of grime.
“It became a giant painting and I’d study it and pick out pieces, segments to photograph,” he said. “It was mesmerizing– and when the tide would start tocome in and the water would move– it would create a kaleidoscope, an explosion of colors, shapes and designs. Its intensity is mind-boggling, and I triedto capture that in the images I made.”
Curator Mark Ilitzky said the exhibit features Mr. Hirsch’s most recent, unpublished works, introducing his unique compositions and colors to the public ina coherent series. Mr. Ilitzky found the images to be particularly striking because “the actual subject was untouched, and barely captured the juxtaposednature of the image – that it was, in this case, toxic waste atop the water,” he recalled. “With these images in the back of my head, and the story behindit, I felt the urge to share it with everyone else.”
Mr. Ilitzky also found value in the overarching environmental implications compelling. “With all of the flourishing contamination, [the photographs] findbeauty– and a streak of hope– in all our surroundings.”
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 3 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Aphrodite,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 4 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Doris,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 5 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Electra,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 6 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Nyx,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 7 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Oceanides,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 8 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Ourea,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 9 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Perses,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 10 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
“Phantasos,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 11 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
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4:15 am June 1, 2015
http://raybansunglassesaustralia.blogspot.com/ wrote:
“Rhode,” 2014 — Steven Hirsch/Lilac Gallery
BROOKLYN ENVIRONMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHY GOWANUS CANAL STEVEN HIRSCH UPCOMING EXHIBITION
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11/25/15, 11:58 AMToxic Beauty: Painterly Photos of the Polluted Gowanus Canal - Photo Journal - WSJ
Page 12 of 12http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2014/11/12/toxic-beauty-painterly-photos-of-the-polluted-gowanus-canal/
ray bans australia
4:52 pm May 18, 2015
Rebecca Horne wrote:
In framing this work as art, the value of it as a document should not be overlooked.
1:26 pm November 18, 2014
Billy wrote:
This is why I love this blog. Tremendous.
12:34 pm November 17, 2014
Tim wrote:
It was designated a Superfund site back in '08. I don't know that anything has happened yet forcleanup, but I know the legal process, which allows funding and then work, has started.Regarding the smell: no change yet. It really depends on the day you visit and which way thewind is blowing.
11:46 pm November 15, 2014
Brad wrote:
Silva: Gowanus is much better than it was. They worked out a way to get some water circulation,so at least is doesn't smell anymore. There is even an amazing Whole Foods next to it. I'm sureit will be an EPA supersite someday.
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