Influx

Andreas Gursky is the photographer behind the world’s most valuable contemporary photograph, but in some of his most recent work Oceans (2009-2010),  which can be seen at the Gargosian in New York , instead of photographer, he plays the role of digital manipulator.

Inspired by a flight map he saw on a flight to Dubai to Melbourne, he set out to play with the representation of the earth’s oceans.

He looked to the internet for his source material of satellite images and found they were  limited because they just showed land mass, the areas supposed to represent the oceans, were darkened out.

Playing with this idea, Gursky’s spent months painstakingly creating the oceans, which he “made” a very particular shade of blue; a type usually only seen in paintings.

His resulting series of images capture all of the world’s oceans with each image shows islands or fringes of landmass.

Interestingly, the only large land mass that warrants its own image, is Antartica, one of the few places relatively untouched by human hands.

The overall result, thanks to Gursky’s digital stretching and manipulation, don’t conform to the world we know.

Gursky’s Ocean series at its core provides a unique statement on the state of the planet, all of the images show little in the way of human habitation, by stripping the earth back to its rawest form, perhaps he’s asking us to question our role in its future.

Oceans is also at its grandest level, a commentary on how we control images; placing greater emphasis on the details we wish to enhance and diminishing others at the expense of objectivity.

Or, in other words; by re-imaging our perception of the earth, Gursky is engaging in the centuries old debate between art and science.