DAVID BURDENY | OCEANS
DAVID BURDENY | Oceans
350 Dundas St. W, Toronto
May 6 - 31, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 6 from 2-4 PM
Bau-Xi Photo is pleased to present Oceans, the latest series by David Burdeny. Oceans explores the geological formations of water bodies in the Bahamas, Australia, and Europe, capturing the complex, abstract qualities of the deep sea. Burdeny’s scenes are celebrations of the natural world, but, below the surface, they map a precious and precarious resource. Serpentine sandbars stretch into a Bahamian horizon; Australian bays are sharply rendered fields of impossible blue. Long exposures—evident in views of Sicily—soften waves, revealing formations beneath the water. Bodies that dot the cliff sides cast long shadows, indelible marks on an expanse otherwise untouched. The contemporary sublime is for Burdeny both a call to action that compels one to protect her world, and a message about culpability. Receding vistas are the dreamy escape; human presence is the sobering reminder. Like the depths his exposures reveal, Burdeny unearths layers—of not just the landscape—but the fraught relationship between the earth we inhabit and the environmental future we inherit.
David Burdeny (b. 1968. Winnipeg, Canada) holds Masters degrees in Architecture and Interior Design, and is the recipient of notable photography awards including Photographer of the Year (Nature category) at the International Photography Awards.
This exhibition has been selected as a featured exhibition for the annual Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.