David Maisel (visual artist)

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David Maisel
Born1961 (age 62–63)
NationalityAmerican
EducationBachelor of Arts
Master of Fine Arts
Known forPhotography and Visual Art
Websitewww.davidmaisel.com

David Maisel (born 1961)[1][2] is an American photographer and visual artist whose works explore vestiges and remnants of civilizations both past and present. His work has been the subject of five major monographs, published by Nazraeli Press, Chronicle Books, and Steidl.

Maisel was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in the Creative Arts in 2018[3] and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1990.[4] His work is exhibited internationally and is collected in major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[5] Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[6] and the Victoria and Albert Museum.[7]

Education[edit]

Maisel earned his Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University in 1984 where he studied with Emmet Gowin.[8] He attended the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, and received an MFA from California College of the Arts in 2006[9] where he worked with Larry Sultan.[10]

Photographic work[edit]

Black Maps[edit]

Black Maps is a multi-chaptered series of aerial photographs of environmentally impacted sites. The series includes surreal and graphic images of open pit mines, cyanide leaching fields, military testing, water reclamation projects, and urban sprawl. Maisel's The Lake Project, a body of work consisting of images from Owens Lake, the site of a formerly 200 square-mile lake in California on the eastern side of the Sierra Mountains, stands out as his most extensive body of work within Black Maps. Maisel worked on The Lake Project in 2001 and 2002, and later went back to photograph in 2015.

A monograph of the work, Black Maps: American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime, was published by Steidl in 2013.

From 2013 through 2015 an exhibition of Black Maps traveled between the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ (curated by Claire Carter), CU Art Museum, Boulder, CO (curated by Lisa Becker), Western Washington University Art Gallery, Bellingham, WA (curated by Lisa Becker), and the University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM (curated by Lisa Becker). In 2016 Maisel gave a lecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design on Black Maps, moderated by Neil Brenner with panelists Pierre Bélanger, Rosetta Sarah Elkin, and Sharon Harper.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

Library of Dust[edit]

Library of Dust focuses on copper canisters containing cremated remains of psychiatric patients from the Oregon State Hospital. The human ash and copper have reacted chemically, causing colorful mineral blooms on the surface of the cans, which are presented as full-frame portraits against black backgrounds. Maisel also photographed abandoned wards and found objects from those wards as part of the series.

In 2009 the New York Institute for the Humanities held a symposium on Library of Dust. The project was published as a monograph by Chronicle Books in 2008.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25]

History's Shadow[edit]

History's Shadow is a rephotographic project in which Maisel worked with x-ray images from art conservation archives from major museums. He began the project while a Scholar in Residence at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles[26] and continued the work at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. History's Shadow was published as a monograph by Nazraeli Press in 2011.[27][28][29][30]

Awards[edit]

Collections[edit]

Maisel's work is held in the following permanent collections:

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Artist Profile: David Maisel - Socrates Sculpture Park". Socrates Sculpture Park. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  2. ^ "David Maisel | Haines | San Francisco". Haines. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  3. ^ a b "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | David Maisel".
  4. ^ a b https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/NEA-Annual-Report-1990.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  5. ^ a b "The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Search the Collections". Metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  6. ^ a b "LACMA Collections Online". Collectionsonline.lacma.org. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  7. ^ a b "Library of Dust 1165 | Maisel, David | V&A Search the Collections". Collections.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  8. ^ "Princeton University - Legendary photographer Gowin celebrated in exhibition". Princeton.edu. 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  9. ^ "2006 MFA Fine Art Thesis Exhibition". Sites.cca.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-11-13. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  10. ^ "David Maisel". Haines Gallery. Archived from the original on 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  11. ^ AMEI WALLACHPublished: May 09, 2004 (2004-05-09). "ART; Hell From the Air: California's Toxic Landscape - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-12.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "Danger Zones | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian Magazine". Smithsonianmag.com. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  13. ^ "lens culture photographer interview: David Maisel (audio)". LensCulture. Archived from the original on 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  14. ^ "David Maisel | Features". Archinect. 2006-03-21. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  15. ^ "Conscientious Extended | A Conversation with David Maisel". Jmcolberg.com. 2007-01-30. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  16. ^ Rawlinson, Mark. "David Maisel's Oblivion (working title) (essay) (Mark Rawlinson) - Academia.edu". Nottingham.academia.edu. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  17. ^ Aperture 172. "Aperture Foundation | Aperture 172". Aperture.org. Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2012-06-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ "David Maisel/Black Maps: American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime". Cuartmuseum.colorado.edu. Archived from the original on 2012-06-17. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  19. ^ "The New York Institute for the Humanities - Events". Nyihumanities.org. Archived from the original on 2012-07-23. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  20. ^ "Opening the Tomb: Supernature, Beautiful Decay, and Ruination | Drain Magazine". Drainmag.com. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  21. ^ "Stewart Copeland & Zee Avi". Studio 360. 2010-09-03. Archived from the original on 2012-01-21. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  22. ^ "Getty Research Journal, no. 1 (Getty Research Institute)". Getty.edu. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  23. ^ Leah Ollman (January 4, 2009). "Library Of Dust | A haunting memorial in 'Library of Dust'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  24. ^ "Dust to Dust | FLYP". Flypmedia.com. 2009-06-18. Archived from the original on 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  25. ^ "The dust man settles - British Journal of Photography". Bjp-online.com. 2010-08-16. Archived from the original on 2012-06-21. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  26. ^ https://www.getty.edu/foundation/pdfs/grants_awarded_0607.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  27. ^ Maisel, David (2011-10-01). "David Maisel's X-Rays of the Heart of the Art". The New York Times.
  28. ^ "Mysteries and Truths in Black and White - Slide Show". The New York Times. 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  29. ^ "National Academy of Sciences: History's Shadow: David Maisel". Nas.nasonline.org. Archived from the original on 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  30. ^ Ketenjian, Tania. "Photography | David Maisel". The Unobserved. Retrieved 2012-06-12.

External links[edit]