Edward Burtynsky: Oil features fifty-three beautiful and provocative large-format photographs by internationally renowned Canadian artist Edward Burtynsky. His images explore the hotly- debated effects of oil extraction, our international dependency on the substance, and with an unflinching eye, Burtynsky presents us with the reality of oil production as its role in our civilization undergoes massive transformation. Burtynsky’s photographs render his subjects with transfixing clarity and detail. His extensive exploration is organized thematically into three distinct groupings: Extraction and Refinement, Transportation and Motor Culture, and The End of Oil.

Burtynsky has photographed a series of arresting landscapes: aerial views of both active and derelict oil fields, the architecture of massive refineries, highway interchanges snaking their way across the landscape, vistas of junked vehicles, mountains of used tires, recycling yards, and mammoth oil tanker ship breaking operations.

Presented with the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre and Scotiabank Group.

Organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and made possible with the generous support of the Scotiabank Group.