Photo: Richard Misrach, Untitled (November 10, 2012, 3:08PM) [detail], 2012, from The Mysterious Opacity of Other Beings (Aperture, 2015).
Set against the landscape, human beings slowly recede into small, discreet details amid a much bigger picture of life. We become delicate, frail, and vulnerable, yet endlessly compelling figures sparking curiosity. There’s a compulsion to look and to observe, as though by seeing it is possible to learn. And for this reason, the photographer holds significance, for in their ability to frame and capture moments in life, we can behold, study, and reflect.
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Richard Misrach, Untitled (January 28, 2014, 1:12PM) [detail], from The Mysterious Opacity of Other Beings (Aperture, 2015)
For the new body of work, Misrach has used the latest in technological and optical developments to produce a series of images that are magnificent works of photography. The interplay of light reflecting off the surface of the water becomes a surface upon which we can gaze endlessly. Floating somewhere in the work are bodies in the utmost state of repose. Left entirely to their own device, Misrach’s subjects have allowed themselves to rest upon the waves. The images are as serene as they are surreal, a great blue green expanse of liquid gentility.
Misrach rarely ventures into portraiture, but in this case he has given us a glimpse into the character of his subjects by making their faces readable, adding another layer into the experience. For some afloat, there is a sense of tension, of muscles clenched, of a float or die vibe that makes things curious. For others there’s a sense of release so profound that we exhale simply looking at the peaceful energy they emanate. The counterpoint between human and their environment speaks to the sense of control they impose upon it. For those who surrender, the world is theirs. It’s all very Tao in the gentlest way, just as Lao Tsu wrote, “Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it” (Stephen Mitchell translation).
Richard Misrach, Untitled (July 26, 2012 3:57PM) [detail], 2012, from The Mysterious Opacity of Other Beings (Aperture, 2015)
In The Mysterious Opacity of Other Beings water becomes a primordial force, one that returns us to a state of surrender to the forces of the earth. It is why we feel the eternal call of the beach. It is where we can go to be, where we can let go and surrender to the siren song of the sea. Misrach’s photographs beautifully capture this, allowing us to feel the water beneath us and the sun overhead—a highly desirable feeling on any given day of the year.
All photos: © Richard Misrach, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York and Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
