Monday, March 16, 2009

Richard Misrach

Balance burns vividly in Richard Misrach's photograph, Swimmers, Pyramid Lake Indiana Reservation, Nevada. By strategically bordering the dark island in even light space, Misrach creates a balance of hues in the overall piece. The mountain as wide as it is tall, with most of its mass settled at its base, evoking a sense of stability and permanence. Its peak lies slightly to the right of the vertical median, yet this is countered by the speckling of swimmers to the lower left of the island. Our eye ties them into the piece with psychic line that connects their gaze to the peak, and balances their presence with the diagonal lines formed by the ripples on the water. The water is slightly darker than the sky, and hence takes up a smaller portion of the negative space formed by the island. All of these elements give the picture a calm beauty.

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