Written by Joelcy Kay

Editor & Curator of Edge of Humanity Magazine

Curator of NO MIDDLEMAN ART GALLERY

Artistically speaking Edward Burtynsky’s Quarries is about patterns. These geometric indentations after excavation create a new rock formation. Even though white, black, and rust, seem to occupy most of the frame. These are intense colors giving rise to creativity and inspiration.

As these gigantic rocks wait to become building materials with the next excavation, they are art pieces taking their last breath of life. Images on pages 41, 43, and 45 display just that. My favorite is page 55, depicting diagonal patterns and a green water base.

Pages 66 through 69 showcase unusual landscapes with deep colors. It is like looking at Rembrandt of rock formations or should I say deformations.

It is not until the eye of the viewer finds a human within these images that the understanding of the scale of these monumental and fast industrial landscapes kicks in.

While the underground landscapes resemble our thoughts of places on other planets, the site of a tall wooden ladder found in the mix of large scale excavation equipment is unnerving. At first, the equipment on the ground looks like play toys. But on page 47, which depicts 3 ladders reaching higher and higher levels on the face of a rock is that the thought of dangerous work conditions comes to mind. The closer images depicting working areas are confusing, overwhelming, and otherworldly.

Edward Burtynsky Quarries documents these enormous places around the world where earth gives us material to build the cities we live in. Quarries bring to life unexpected images, landscapes, and activities that we never think about it; it’s an eye opener to understanding the fundamentals of building, through revealing images that excites the mind.

For complete book details check amazon.com below.

Quarries

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Edge of Humanity Magazine is an independent nondiscriminatory platform that has no religious, political, financial, or social affiliations.

We are committed to publishing the human condition, the raw diverse global entanglement, with total impartiality.

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