Richard Misrach and the Sublime

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement during the 18^th century that according to Hamilton challenged the traditional, religious world-view about nature, society and man. This new way of thinking led to developments in the arts and science. Hooker believed one of the main components of the Enlightenment was that “the universe is fundamentally rational” meaning reason led directly to understanding. This led to a mechanistic world-view as well as a development of empirical thought, the idea of learning through observation. The Enlightenment was centred in France.

The sublime is feeling the element of immensity and vastness within nature.
The political theorist Edmund Burke found that the sublime was “the ultimate experience of divinity, a mixture of awe, fear, and enlightenment produced by the contemplation of a powerful, terrifying nature” This made a direct link between landscape and divinity.

The previous view of nature was that of unimportance. It was shown, but only as a background to something considered more important. The Enlightenment gave landscape importance in its own right by making it a form of religious expression. Wordsworth felt nature to be a lesson for humanity in harmony and endurance. The Enlightenment broadened the concept of a spiritual experience, raising nature and the sublime as a result.

Misrach’s work looks at the relationship between man and nature, especially the way man uses (and abuses) his landscape. In his On the Beach series there is a juxtaposition of tiny people vs. the vast ocean, representing the people looking vulnerable. He got inspiration from seeing photos of people falling out of the twin towers as they burned down. He wanted a feeling of ambiguity to his photos, making people about the story behind them. This theme also shows in his desert cantos series, in which he said:

“The human struggle, the successes and failures, the use and abuse, both noble and foolish... Symbols and relationships seem to arise that stand for the human condition itself. It is a simple, if almost incomprehensible equation: the world is as terrible as it is beautiful, but when you look more closely, it is as beautiful as it is terrible. We must maintain constant vigilance, to protect the world from ourselves, and to embrace the world as it exists.“
– Richard Misarch on the desert cantos series.

The aesthetic of Misrach’s uses a unique perspective, sometimes from a great height, giving them a somewhat unnatural feel to them. They really fill you with a feeling of awe and humble you, in the same way that sublime philosophy describes.

Some other artists that work with the ideas around the sublime are Virginia Mak, Deedra Ludwig, is Caspar David Friedrich , and John Martin

Virginia Mak looks at the individual's relationship to nature, as seen in Untitled #7, Hidden Nature, 2003

Deedra Ludwig , who works with Abstract Sublime, and “ attempt[s] to recreate a "sense of place" which is emotional, tactile, atmospheric and serves as a visual record of nature's constant state of regeneration and flux. “ Below is the painting, “Opulent Sublime”

Another famous Enlightenment painter is Caspar David Friedrich, I’ve shown Two Men Looking at the Moon, 1819. I like how the effect nature has on the relationship of the two figures, making them look like they are in their own world.

In the work by John Martin, 1840, Assuaging of the Waters there is special focus on light and shadows. The birds look fragile in comparison to the powerful nature surrounding them.

Misrach’s photography fills me with a sense of unease. He captures such vastness it makes my head explode a little bit, because I find it impossible to comprehend how big nature is. He seems to capture this by giving an insight, making me feel consciously incompetent. This appeals to my imagination because it just shows how limitless nature is and in turn how limitless creativity and beauty is.

Here are a couple of sublime photos that I loved:

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REFERENCES:

Hamilton, P. (1992). The Enlightenment and the birth of social science, in Hall, S & Gieben B. (eds.) Formations of Modernity. Cambridge: Open University Press (p. 23)

Hooker, R. (1996). Seventeenth Century Enlightenment Thought. Retrieved 21 February, 2006 from http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/enlightenment/preophil.htm

Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, London, 1757, in Collected Works, T.W. Copeland, ed. London 1862-1867

Wikipedia, Sublime (philosophy), last modified 19 April 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_(philosophy)

Wilhelm Wackenroder and Ludwig Tieck, Outpourings of an Art-Loving Friar (Dresden, 1797). English ed. Trans by Edward Mornin. (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1975), p. 59.

Richard Misrach, Desert Cantos (University of New Mexico Press, 1987), from http://www.artnet.com/awc/richard-misrach.html

sanjose museum of art, Artist of the Week 5 - Richard Misrach, February 26, 2007, from

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LTgxfoHbIE

Robert Ayers, ‘Richard Misrach’ January 14, 2008 from: http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/26514/richard-misrach/

(no Author given) Close Distance, May 2009, from http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/yorkquaycentreYQC09_3.cfm

Deedra Ludwig, 2009 from: http://www.deedraludwig.com/opulentsublime/sublime1.htm

Laura (no last name given) ‘My New Crush’ 4^th February 2007, from http://lessonsinidentity.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-new-crush.html

Tangient LLC, Sublime Workbook, 2010, from: http://mslinder.wikispaces.com/Sublime+Workbook?f=print

Photos via Anthony (no last name given), Sunset Photo Gallery

Published on November 5, 2009, from http://quazen.com/arts/photography/sunset-photo-gallery-2/