[caption id="attachment_1489" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lawn, Agua Dulce, California, 2007 30x38\" C-print"][/caption]
Lawn, Agua Dulce, California, 2007 30x38" C-print by Ian Baguskas
As almost every intern here can tell you I can be predictable in my tastes. I am very much a New American Landscape man. I love the stillness and quiet beauty of subtle transformations in the land by man (and then on the other hand harsh architectural juxstaposition is nice too). The collision of the created with the natural as the wild is attempted to be tamed by man. What can I say it is my soft spot. JBG artists Ian Baguskas' Sweet Water series is a fine example of mans attempt (both achieved and failed) to change the desert into a lush oasis, while Brad Moore's work often depicts the subtle way that we "control" our landscape through the taming of shrubbery in southern California.
At the Hey, Hot Shot! review I got to see contender Bryan Schutmaat's body of work, Western Frieze that looks at the western landscape not just a landscape invaded by man and roadside culture, but looks to put back the mystique and allure that, "loneliest of landscapes" and "sleepy towns" of the American West once held. The images on his website remind me a little of David Lynch's Twin Peaks. The images are both modern but tinged with nostalgia to for the stories and dreams of past travelers. My favorite quote from his statement is his reference to the west as, " that vast bulge of land whose allure never seems to fade."
[caption id="attachment_1488" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="y motel at sunrise"][/caption]Y Motel at Sunrise by Bryan Schutmaat
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