Powerful Kaleidoscope Landscapes Explore Humans’ Impact on Climate Change (NSFW)

Lunar Synthesis, Oregon Coast, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Crude Love in the Anthropocene, Los Angeles, California, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Photographer David Benjamin Sherry’s latest series, Climate Vortex Sutra, is a study in landscape, still life and portraiture that hints to humans direct impact on a changing climate. Sherry juxtaposes monochrome landscapes with colorful nude portraits, showcasing the terrain of the human body.

Travelling across America to document remote topography, using 8×10 film negatives and analogue techniques. From orange rigid rock surfaces, to ominous red ripples in water, the surreal kaleidoscope of hues are unexpected in landscape photography. Much of the compositions are achieved by the artist in the darkroom.

The series is part geographic exploration of our changing physical world and part study of personal territories of the human body. We find a man in a reclined position, painted head to toe in a bright spectrum of colors, both exposing him and shielding his skin. In another, an image of two men kissing, their bodies covered in thick black petroleum. Sherry photographs bodies as though they are similar to land surfaces.

David Benjamin Sherry’s Climate Vortex Sutra is on view at Salon 94 Bowery until October 25th.

Fear of Fear, Oregon, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Sympathetic Flesh (David), Los Angeles, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Cybernetic Water Witch, Grand Tetons, Wyoming, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Wilderness of Mirrors, Idaho, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

New Life Forms, (Pia and Guadalupe), Los Angeles, CA, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Climate Vortex Sutra, (For Allen Ginsberg), Hana, Hawaii, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Waves of Ocean Acidification, Capital Reef, Utah (For Minor White), 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Feeling Earthquake, Capital Reef, Utah, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

Extensions and Dimensions, Point Lobos, California (For Edward Weston), 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York.

All images © David Benjamin Sherry

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