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In the Eye of the WhalePost an Event »

Electric Works

April 1 - May 8, 2011

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1360 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94103
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In the Eye of the Whale Humpback Whale Calf by Bryant Austin
Artist Reception: Friday, April 1, 6-8 PM Intimate distance is necessary to reveal the true colors, tonal range and intricate detail in Bryant Austin’s photographs: In the Eye of the Whale. The process rests on the artist’s complete trust of his whale subjects not to bring him accidental or intentional harm. His photographs become possible only when they choose to inspect him at distances less than six feet. During these rare and special moments Austin has experienced the whale’s precision movements around his body, gently repositioning their pectoral fins and flukes where they would have otherwise caused injury. Working this intimately with his seven to fifty ton subjects is a delicate process dictated by the terms set by the whale. Entire seasons, up to three months, are invested annually with specific populations. On snorkel only, he floats motionless and observes. He provides whales with the space and time to come to know him as an individual. When these rare and exceptional encounters occur the artist composes a series of vertically oriented photographs along the whale’s body later to be made into a life size composite photograph. Using a 50 Mega Pixel camera and a portrait lens, all of the fine detail and tones are captured. Realizing that less than one millionth of one percent of the human population will experience what he has with these creatures, his vision is to exhibit his resulting body of work to provide humanity with a profound and intimate glimpse of these creatures in a way never before explored or shared on such a scale. His body of work, which represents the largest most detailed photographs of whales ever composed, has been shown in Norway, the United States, Chile, Spain, and most recently in Tokyo.