From our partners at Art Practical, today we bring you Brian Karl’s review of Richard Misrach: Being(s) 1975–2015 at Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco. Karl notes: “Misrach’s technical and compositional treatments produce a distancing effect that imbues the human figures with a kind of impotence.” This article was originally published on May 19, 2015. This Fraenkel Gallery survey of more than thirty years of Richard Misrach’s photography primarily[…..]

California-based photographer Richard Misrach first emerged on the American art scene in the 1970s, praised for his pioneering use of color film and large-scale prints. He spent the next four decades of his career using these techniques to document the fragile relationship between man and the environment, paying special attention to decaying, off-kilter landscapes. His photographs of former nuclear test sites in Nevada and Utah,[…..]

Standing on a hillside gazing into the Pacific Ocean, one can’t help but to be overwhelmed by the beauty and ruggedness of the landscape. Rolling hills, steep cliffs, and thick forests bring to mind epic stories of western expansion and the conquering spirit of those who have traveled here, a spirit currently under investigation at Eli Ridgway Gallery. Better a Live Ass than a Dead[…..]