RICHARD MISRACH: ON THE BEACH

SIGNED BY MISRACH

Photography

Fine/Fine

lst Edition/lst Printing

Printed on Heavy Coated Paper

38 four-color plates

6 Detail Illustrations

List of Plates

Oversized: 19.25" x 16.25"x.75"

Photographs and text by Richard Misrach

Custom Cardboard Case from Publisher

Aperture Foundation, Inc.

"Book Description: Aperture Foundation, Inc., New York, 2007. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. Photographically illustrated paper-covered boards and a beige cloth-covered spine, with a heavy clear acetate dust jacket printed with title in black and silver on cover and spine; contained in a custom cardboard case. Photographs and text by Richard Misrach. Includes a list of plates. Designed by Fabio Cutró and Dana Faconti of Blind Spot. Unpaginated (80 pp.), with 38 four-color plates (including 9 two-page spreads), 6 detail illustrations and one reference illustration, gorgeously printed on heavy coated paper. 16-3/8 x 20-3/8 inches. Published on the occasion of a 2007-2009 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., the Henry Art Gallery at The University of Washington, Seattle, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. CONDITION: New in publisher's packaging. A flawless copy. For more than thirty years, Richard Misrach has been entranced by the vastness of space and the human being's insignificance within it. By creating meticulous and achingly beautiful photographs of vistas that the human eye could not see, he asks us to imagine that the landscape, the world, though startlingly beautiful, is not necessarily enhanced by the existence of people. The photographs in On the Beach, show people who, even in small groups, appear isolated, disenfranchised, floating in great bodies of water. People exist as a decorative element, reminiscent of tiny figures used in model railroad scenes. Misrach's tiny people are often in repose, on vacation, not expecting to be models. They appear lost themselves, even when together. The photographs show us, instead, the glittering surface of the water, and with all its beauty, there is a sense that the water (like the desert or the depiction of fire in previous work) is threatening. Despite the tranquility that these colossal images suggest, there is an under-current of violence. Misrach has a gift of creating beauty that is visceral and so delicious that you want to lick the surface of the pages. And at the same time, the work is disconcerting. The people are entirely too small, the viewer is made aware that we are in danger, that we cannot imagine the power of nature, of water, when it is no longer still. This work was created from one hotel balcony in Hawaii over a four-year period and was made in response to the news images of individuals and couples falling from the Twin Towers in September 2001. From the artist: "The photgraphs that appear in On the Beach were made between January 2002 and November 2005. I was drawn to the fragility and grace of the human figure in the landscape. My thinking about this work was influenced by the events of 9/11, particularly by the images of individuals and couples falling from the World Trade Towers, as well as by the 1950s Cold War novel and film, On the Beach. Paradise has become an uneasy dwelling place; the sublime sea frames our vulnerability, and the precarious nature of life itself." From the publisher: "Richard Misrach, one of today's most prolific contemporary masters, is internationally renowned for his carefully considered, beautifully rendered epic works. In On the Beach, a lavishly produced, oversized monograph that features the long-awaited publication of this spectacular series, Misrach hones in on our delicate relationship to the sea. Light, color, and form are crucial components in Misrach's explorations of difficult subjects. In this body of work he uses a gorgeous, slowly shifting color palette gleaned from changes in depth and tide; abstract patterns of waves and rippling water, and beaches both empty and cluttered. Throughout the series, Misrach carefully balances the minutiae of human gesture against the massive scale of the sea. In some images, a lone figure floats in a liquid field of brilliant turquoise--or in others, lies beached and partially buried. The details in the images are frequently ambiguous." (V. Borrelli)