WHAT?  Burtynsky: Extraction/Abstraction

WHERE?  Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HG, King’s Road, London SW3 4RY

WHEN?  Now until 6th May 

WHY GO ? To be overwhelmed.  There are so many big questions about big environmental issues that award winning Canadian photographer Burtynsky confronts as he captures the state of the world straight on. 

This is an awe inspiring exhibition that everyone should see; a retrospective of 40 years recording geographical images that defy the word ‘extreme’. 

From salt mines, to oil rigs, from toxic industrial waste to scarred farmlands, his combination of tech wizardry and natural flair for connecting with the landscape is unique.

Provocative and intense, Burtynsky’s aerial work is both beautiful and ugly as ravaged landscapes are often shot from above, from fixed-wing aircrafts, helicopters and drones so that angles and images resemble modern oil paintings. 

Premiered alongside the exhibition, his immersive multimedia film, ‘In the Wake of Progress’, (2022) is utterly compelling with an arresting soundtrack that will, however hard we conscientiously recycle, make us all question what we are doing wrong and what lies ahead?

No prizes for guessing why he chose such an evocative exhibition title, Extraction/Abstraction says it all!

IN THE KNOW  Blown away? There’s even more.  Coinciding with the biggest retrospective of Burtynsky’s work, Flowers Gallery in Cork Street have brought together a selection of his most recent images focusing on powerful geological themes, from glaciers to the erosion of terrain.

 Check Edward Burtynsky - New Works, on now until April 6