Richard Misrach: Color Reverse Scrubs

An ongoing series exploring the abstracted pattern of an edgeless ocean surface, and the gestures and expressions of bathers adrift in the water.

This latest installation in Misrach’s ongoing Desert Cantos series explores the entire length of the US/Mexico border, in photographs made with a large-format camera as well as images captured with an iPhone.

Photographed from a distant, raised vantage point, Misrach’s images pose the mote-sized human figure against a looming and abstract pattern of sand and ocean waves, exploring the tension between control and release.

Photographed over several years from an unchanging vantage point, the series offers a meditation on the light, color, and atmosphere which transcend a fixed and familiar view.