Riot Material

Art. Word. Thought.

  • Home
  • The Magazine
    • About
    • Contributors
    • Categories >
      • Art
      • Artist
      • Books
      • Thought
      • Film
      • Cinema Disordinaire
      • Riot Sounds
      • Records
      • Jazz
      • Interview
      • Inside The Image
      • More   >
        • Architecture
        • Image
        • The Line
        • The New Word
        • That Evening Sun
        • Twenty Que
        • The Natural World
        • Opera
        • Video
        • Fiction
        • From The Shelf
        • FR/BLCK/PR
    • Contact
    • Masthead
  • Art
    • Art Reviews
  • Books
    • Book Reviews
  • film
    • Film Reviews
  • Records
    • Jazz Reviews
    • All Reviews
  • Riot Sounds
  • Cinema Disordinaire
    • Riot Cinema

High & Dry: Land Artifacts – Visions of the Desert

May 9, 2018 By Genie Davis Leave a Comment

at the Museum of Art and History, Lancaster (through July 15)
Opening Reception, Saturday, May 12 from 4-6PM
by Genie Davis

A beautiful and evocative series of photographs form the centerpiece of a stunning exhibition at the Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, which explores things left behind in the desert. These “things” are not just physical artifacts but the remnants of dreams, fragments of memories, and even splinters of passing light. Osceola Refetoff’s vivid, electrifying infrared photographs are joined by historical objects from MOAH’s permanent collection, and accompanied by lyrical writing from historian Christopher Langley. It is a multi-media exhibition in the best sense, approaching and exploring the desert it illuminates from all angles.

The exhibition is a first for Langley and Refetoff in a museum setting, although, as Refetoff explains, the pair had an art exhibition together as High & Dry at the LA Art Association in 2013, and have shown work at a range of area galleries. Land Artifacts is certainly their most ambitious collaboration to date.

“This exhibit, High & Dry: Land Artifacts, says Langley, “is the first full realization of our work together in this cross-platform project. Photographs, words, audio-video media, historical artifacts, syndication through our partnership with KCET Artbound, and the physical exhibition: all are brought together to communicate our vision of the desert to others.”

The pair are excited to be the first artists to include objects from MOAH’s permanent collection with their work.

“It is the Museum of Art & History after all, so we wanted to connect the images and words to a historical context reaching up to items collected in the local desert this year,” Refetoff notes.

Boarded-Up Farmhouse with Watchful Horse. Bishop, CA. 2016.

The lush infrared photography, evocative words and historic objects together add up to an exhibition that visually and emotionally transports the viewer to the wide-open spaces of the desert, and invites one to experience the openness, the emptiness, and the fragile marks left by man on the beautiful but unforgiving landscape.

The exhibition also includes an interactive element for viewers: a time capsule. Visitors are invited to bring an object to place in it.

“The idea behind the time capsule is to get people to think about the history we are currently writing in the desert, and the artifacts that we’ll be leaving as our personal legacy to future generations,” Refetoff relates.

Langley adds, “We want people to think about what they want for our deserts and how they want to be remembered. What small object can they leave behind that will represent one of the very best things about their lives at this moment in history?”

Serpentine Boxcars. Searles, CA. 2010.

For Refetoff and Langley, one of the very best things about their lives is exploring the desert itself; the hauntingly evocative images and stories that make up this exhibition are the legacy they leave. Whether it’s a stark white church in the fading town of Trona, boxcars weaving sinuously through a sandy track, an abandoned cabin, a lonely road, or windblown sand sifting across a highway like the shreds of ghosts, the wonder, loss, and harsh blessing of the desert are beautifully conveyed by both artists.

Refetoff asserts, “As a photographer, the easiest and most enjoyable part is tripping across the desert capturing images of the staggering natural beauty and experiencing the diverse communities scattered across remote areas. But I’d be surprised if those adventures accounted for more than 1 or 2 percent of the time it takes to manage the project, develop and print the photographs, edit the content for syndication,and all the other administrative work that goes into sustaining a long- term project of this scale.”

The project reaches beyond the encompassing exhibition at MOAH to include a video created as part of the pair’s long-term collaboration with KCET’s Artbound, and a catalog of the show.

Langley and Refetoff are basically starting a conversation with viewers about the desert itself, and the choices to be made about its development.

According to Langley, “We love the desert and hope we can help people see its beauty and value. We want our viewers, like ourselves, to learn from what has been left behind there to understand and know ourselves better. We want everyone to think deeply about their relationship with these arid lands of ours.”

Refetoff  concurs, “Great hope, ambition, and grand ideals have long been associated with the iconic vistas of the American West. Yet for most of the last couple hundred years, these epic landscapes have been primarily used for mining, military exercises, and waste disposal. Only recently has there been a growing awareness that deserts are a significant natural resource worthy of appreciation and preservation.”

Searles Valley Minerals Plant. Trona, CA. 2010.

Both artists are concerned about the rapidity with which deserts today are being deployed for industrial-sized wind and solar installations.

“While we’re in favor of California’s leadership in developing renewable energy sources,” says Refetoff, “I feel it’s important people understand the massive scale of these operations, and the long term effect they will have on our arid landscapes. Our hope is that engaging people with this information may lead to more thoughtful decisions about where and how these facilities are deployed, and how we plan on addressing them once their service life has expired.” 

Refetoff’s and Langley’s work has a strong sense of activism in it, but without pushing any didactic agenda. Rather, their activism – or support of the desert itself and its raw, sometimes painful beauty – is inherent in their photography, writing and love of the arid and open landscape.

“In many ways, this time in the desert is a time of challenge as well as possibility,” Langley tells us. “We have borrowed these lands from our grandchildren and we want everyone to be willing to shoulder the responsibility to return them in better condition when the time comes. If you stay or return to the desert periodically, a bond strengthens and connects you viscerally to it. It comes naturally.”

Refetoff feels the name ‘activist’ is overly politicized, and says, “From the inception, our goal has been to present a nuanced view of California’s deserts to an intersectional audience that includes other artists, academics, land managers, decision makers, citizens at large, and most importantly – by appearing in local publications like The Inyo Register, The Sun Runner, and Eastside Magazine – the residents of the small desert communities that will be most impacted by the developments that lie ahead.” He believes that the best way to approach such a diverse audience is to make the material accessible and entertaining, and to let viewers draw their own conclusions about what serves the interests of the vast resource of the desert.

The exhibition at MOAH is indeed entertaining, with the visual heft of Refetoff’s photographs creating an experience for viewers that is both dream-like and hyper-realistic. Working in black and white, the exhibition has a ribbon of noir suspense running through it, as if the sands and roads and human detritus were part of a desert movie set.

“This is the first time I’ve exhibited a body of work comprised of all black and white, infrared photography. For those familiar with my past work, it’s exciting to have the opportunity to showcase a very different aesthetic to my saturated, Kodachrome color work.”

Small House with No Doors. Argus, CA. 2015.
Resting Place, Abandoned Kaiser Plant. Owens Lake, CA. 2016.

Refetoff notes that on the most basic level, black and white photography appeals to him for its “formalist attributes, and the emphasis of shape and composition in the absence of color. Almost all my black and white photography is infrared, but I tend to create images that present as traditional black and white exposures, not hitting you over the head with the inherent strangeness that often characterizes the medium.”

Indeed, it is more the intensity of the shadows and the differentiation between dark and light that is the most recognizable feature of these photographs, which have been carefully culled from a collection of only-infrared work from Refetoff’s work with Langley over the past five years, and printed specifically for this exhibition.

Pioneer Cemetery. Lone Pine, CA, 2013.

“From a practical point of view, infrared photography makes the skies very dark, and clouds – when there are clouds – are very pronounced. Generally, landscape photographers avoid the middle of the day, favoring ‘magic hour’ light and shadow. Well, that leaves a lot of light on the table,” Refetoff laughs. “And while I love ‘good’ light as well, I believe the desert experience is much about the harsh sun directly overhead. Infrared photography not only feels like the right medium to portray many of my subjects, but it also allows me to work all day long, capturing the relentless intensity of the midday desert sun.”

Viewers will sense the heat of mid-day, the lengthening shadows of afternoon, the glittering light of morning in Refetoff’s work; images are writ large, etched deep and resonate in the heart and mind. You can almost feel the desert wind slice over your skin, taste the dust, smell the creosote emanating from his images.

Langley’s writing is equally expressive. “Osceola taught me that there are things you can show in photographs only and other things that are best captured in words and phrases. When I begin to write, his images can instruct me in ways I did not see for myself. I hope my words inform his images, his vision, and show the world what we might otherwise miss…the products are more than a mere sum of the words and visual images we brought together.” 

Langley finds the desert experience stark and “seductively beautiful. It always remains mysterious to me and seduces me into thinking I can understand and fully capture its charms and dangers in words. That dream continues to remain exotic and elusive for me as a writer.” And yet he captures that dream with grace. “The desert, with its sparse terrain and challenging environment, presents a stark backdrop for human enterprise. Many of the material remnants scattered across these vast open spaces represent human failures…abandoned homesteads and industries that were simply unable to survive the harsh conditions…” he writes.

But what has survived is something special indeed – the desert’s soul, which may devour some and succor others, and regardless remains a force to be reckoned with, one both high and dry, perhaps. It is the desert’s power, poetry, and their overwhelming passion for it, that Refetoff and Langley depict, and which viewers will exult in experiencing through them.

Christopher Langley (left) and Osceola Refetoff

♦

Featured Image: Three Crosses. Rosamond, CA. 2013. 
All photographs courtesy of Osceola Refetoff

High & Dry: Land Artifacts runs from May 12 to July 15th
MOAH is located at 665 W. Lancaster Blvd, Lancaster, CA

 

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Art, Profile, The Line

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The New Word

Cathexis

When we say the world is haunted
we mean untranslated

as yet.

[Read More…]

The Line

Nels Cline & Yuka Honda are Cup. Their new record, Spinning Creatures, is reviewed at Riot Material Magazine.

CUP’s Hydra-Headed Spinning Creature

on Northern Spy Reviewed by John Payne Wherein the husband and wife team up to rinse and shine the aural punchbowl, no squabbling. Nels Cline & Yuka Honda are Cup, co-cookers of rich, musically nutritious stuff packed with savory, skewed nuance that reflects their artistic differences and affinities. Guitar visionary Cline’s scope, skills and, yes, taste, […]

The Lesson. Enrique Martinez Celaya’s current exhibition at Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, is reviewed at RIot Material magazine.

Enrique Martínez Celaya’s The Tears of Things

at Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles ( through November 2) Reviewed by Lita Barrie Enrique Martínez Celaya’s haunting exhibition at Kohn Gallery is conceived as visual poetry predicated upon Virgil’s phrase “the tears of things,” from Aeneid ( Book 1, line 462), about an encounter with a mural of the battle of Troy which made the […]

Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson in Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse, reviewed at Riot Material magazine.

Atmosphere So Thick You’ll Choke: Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse

Reviewed by Kristy Puchko In 2016, production designer turned writer/director Robert Eggers awed critics with his directorial debut, The Witch, a daring horror film set in the 1630s. Now, for his ferociously anticipated follow-up, he and his brother/co-writer Max Eggers have journeyed 200-some years to a rocky and remote island off the New England coast […]

Pink Peep (detail). Laura Krifka's latest exhibition at Luis De Jesus is reviewed at Riot Material, LA's premier art magazine.

Laura Krifka’s Wickedly Deviant The Game of Patience

at Luis De Jesus (through October 26) Reviewed by Lita Barrie Laura Krifka enjoys doing things she is not supposed to do. Having absorbed the tenets of neoclassical painting, she bypasses high-minded seriousness by adding a candy-coated veneer of hyper-artificiality adopted from 1950s MGM musicals to the domestic decor of private scenes she then undercuts […]

How to Hate the City: A Storyboard Of Canvases

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner at The Neue Galerie, NYC (through January 13) Reviewed by John Haber No movement in early modern art was as cosmopolitan as German Expressionism — and the group that called itself Die Brücke. Who else took to the streets when Picasso was just finding his way from circus performers to still life? […]

Swans' Leaving Meaning, Various Personnel. Leaving Meaning is reviewed at Riot Material, LA's premier magazine for art and sound.

Sound Itself As The Only Way Forward In Swans’ Leaving Meaning

out October 25 on Young God Records Reviewed by John Payne Michael Gira founded/guiding-lighted the sort of no-wave / noise / spiritual-purification band Swans in NYC 35 some odd years ago, and, roughly, he’s made a career out of trying musically to express the inexpressible ever since. After a hiatus of a few years, during which […]

The Vast of Night, dir. by Andrew Patterson, is reviewed at Riot Material, LA's premier magazine for art and film

In Jaw-Dropping Homage To The Twilight Zone, The Exhilarating The Vast of Night

Reviewed by Kristy Puchko There’s something in the air on a crisp night in 1950s Cayuga, New Mexico. Sure, there’s excitement as basketball season begins with a game so anticipated that nearly the entirety of this rural town has convened upon the high school’s gymnasium. But then there’s something stranger, a crackle on the phone […]

Resilience: Philip Guston In 1971

at Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles (through January 5, 2020) Reviewed by Nancy Kay Turner …there’s no success like failure and failure’s no success at all Bob Dylan The painter’s first duty is to be free Philip Guston In 1970, New York City was the undisputed center of the art world and 57th street in […]

Betye Saar’s Call and Response, at LACMA, is reviewed at Riot Material magazine, LA's premier art magazine.

Process And Fierce Redemption In Betye Saar’s Call and Response

at LACMA (through April 5, 2020) Reviewed by Genie Davis Betye Saar’s riveting, 40-object exhibition currently at LACMA offers a fascinating insight into the artist’s process. It’s strong focus on the power of redemptive faith and personal strength in the face of adversity is passionate and compelling – which can be frankly said of all Saar’s […]

Virgil Abloh, from Figures of Speech. Reviewed at Riot Material, LA's premier magazine for art and fashion

Audacious Digs In Virgil Abloh’s Figures of Speech

at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Reviewed by Seren Sensei In a short video clip during Figures of Speech, Virgil Abloh’s show at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago, he mused on his upbringing and influences. Born the son of Ghanaian immigrants in a small town in Illinois, he discussed the wonders of growing […]

Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg’s This Is It. As part of Apple's [AR]T Walk, reviewed at Riot Material.

Lightly Through The Looking Glass With Apple’s [AR]T Walk

By Mayne Alert the critics: The cutting edge of New York City’s art avantgarde can now be found at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. Amid the blistering doldrums of summer, Apple has offered [AR]T Walk a guided tour of their new augmented reality exhibit. Co-curated with the New Museum, the tour is being offered in five […]

Antonio Banderas and Nora Navas in Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria), directed by Pedro Almodóvar and reviewed at Riot Material magazine.

Wounds Of Desire In Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain And Glory

Reviewed by John Payne Were you looking for such a thing, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more humanizing film than Pedro Almodóvar’s latest little miracle. The Spanish director/writer’s Pain and Glory is a story about an artist, who suffers, and remembers, and relives. This tale is only somewhat the story of people in general, […]

Review of Hiroko Oyamada’s The Factory at Riot Material magazine

Hiroko Oyamada’s Mordant Fable, The Factory

Reviewed by John Biscello The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada New Directions, 128pp., $13.95 The year was 1936, when an indefatigable tramp served as a working-class Virgil in guiding audiences through the hellscape of big industry and assembly line madness. The tramp, of course, was Charlie Chaplin in his iconic film, Modern Times, which applied fool’s […]

Peter Doig, Music (2 Trees). Doig's latest exhibition is reviewed at Riot Material magazine.

Corrosion And Other Maladies In Peter Doig’s Latest, Paintings

Paintings, at Michael Werner Gallery, London (16 November) Reviewed by Christopher P Jones With Peter Doig – who has a collection of new paintings on show at the Michael Werner Gallery, London – corrosion is paramount. His paintings seek to overturn themselves from within, alluding to altered states, to dreams and hallucinations. His paint has become […]

Alexandra Masangkay in The Platform (El Hoyo) 2019, reviewed at Riot Material, LA's premier magazine for art and film,

A Movable Feast In The Dystopic The Platform

Reviewed by Kristy Puchko Imagine: you awake in a cold, concrete prison cell. There are no windows, no doors, one cellmate, and a big, square hole in the center of the floor. Should you peek down into it, you’d see a cell below the same as yours. And beneath that lie so many more that […]

Robert Gunderman's latest exhibition, This End, is reviewed at Riot Material, LA's premier art and culture magazine.

Transits Through Finalities In Robert Gunderman’s This End

at AF Projects, Los Angeles (through October 12) Reviewed by Eve Wood Robert Gunderman’s current exhibition at AF Projects could be understood as both a meditation on the nature of time and an investigation into the elusiveness of memory. The title of the exhibition, This End, powerfully yet simply encapsulates and personalizes the idea of transition […]

The Lodge, the follow up film to Goodnight Mommy, is reviewed at Riot Material Magazine.

The Lodge Offers a Chilling Follow-Up To Goodnight Mommy

Reviewed by Kristy Puchko In 2015, Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz dropped jaws and blew minds with their harrowing–and at points hilarious–debut narrative feature, Goodnight Mommy. Last year, they offered a fresh taste in terror with a vignette in the folklore-inspired horror anthology, The Field Guide To Evil. Now, this heralded Austrian pair of co-writers/co-directors is […]

RIOT MATERIAL
art. word. thought.