Photographer Massimo Vitali (b. 1944) considers听the intersection of land and sea with a new series of works that portray the end of the terrestrial human habitat and the beginning of the aqueous. On view听at ,听Disturbed Coastal Systems听reflects听Vitali’s recognised style of heavily populated pictures captured with an elevated, distant perspective. Created by assembling thousands听of square meters in the frame, the images听simultaneously magnify the grandness of the landscape and multiply the presence of the human.
Considered as landscapes, the series is overtly covered in scenes of crowds: illustrating the artist’s interest in pushing the limitations of the photographic frame by its sheer content. As with his previous works, the tension between human habitat and the natural world is ever-present.听In one, the vast听Praia da Torre Fortress shadows a beach in Portugal; in another, the Praia do Moinho juts out into the water. Concrete pools box off sections of water听from adjacent rivers and seas, and听a concrete pier meanders听out beyond a beach.
Although it could be said that听some of Vitali鈥檚 human subjects revel in their听surroundings, for example a girl is seen cartwheeling and a boy cannonballing into the water, many of figures stand with their gaze aimed at the horizon as if keeping watch. This emphasises the fact the coastline depicted is the one along which more than a million Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugees first arrived in Europe, and not all of them alive. One this concept enters your mind, it infiltrates every image within the series, urging the viewer to look out for new arrivals on the horizon.
Massimo Vitali, Disturbed Coastal Systems,听until 17 June, Benrubi Gallery, New York.
Visit: .
For the latest news in contemporary art and culture, follow us on听,听听补苍诲.
Credits
1. Massimo Vitali,听Disturbed Coastal Systems,听2017. Courtesy of the artist and Benrubi Gallery.
