Buried Sunshine | Julian Charrière
Buried Sunshines Burn | HZK.B4P, 2023 heliography on high-polished stainless steel plate, aluminum sub-frame, stainless steel frame, museum glass (ArtGlass 70). image: 39 3/8 x 31 1/2 inches. framed: 40 15/16 x 33 1/16 x 1 9/16 inches. Photo: Jens Ziehe © Julian Charrière / VG Bild- Kunst, Bonn, Germany 2023. Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles
Written by Max Wiener
Copy Edited by Melis Ozdemir
Julian Charrière knows that Los Angeles isn’t just the “City of Angels.” It has a rich history, but unlike many other cities, it has a complex storyline. Before the Sunset Strip and the glamor of Hollywood was a barren, petroleum-rich wasteland, presenting settlers with the opportunity of a lifetime. In his highly-anticipated solo exhibition Buried Sunshine, Charrière shows LA before capitalism and hedonism built the second-largest city in the United States. With a combination of sculptures and heliographic photographs, as well as his artistic film Controlled Burn, Charriere highlights the two-sided coin of Los Angeles’s history, the good and the bad. This series is Charrière’s first exhibition at Sean Kelly Gallery, Los Angeles, celebrated with an opening reception on September 14th. The display will run until November 4th.
Buried Sunshines Burn | 2V.8YL, 2023 heliography on high-polished stainless steel plate, aluminum sub-frame, stainless steel frame, museum glass (ArtGlass 70). image: 39 3/8 x 31 1/2 inches. framed: 40 15/16 x 33 1/16 x 1 9/16 inches. Photo: Jens Ziehe © Julian Charrière / VG Bild- Kunst, Bonn, Germany 2023. Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles
Charrière documents LA’s before history in an almost harrowing way, asking us, “What have you done?” His images have a way of doing that, with their coloring and lighting serving as transportation elements in an already moving exhibition. The darkness of the oil below the surface occupies nearly all of the image, emphasizing the sheer amount of oil that existed in LA before LA. Some of the landscapes in Charrière’s works are recognizable, especially the hilly terrains and flatlands now home to movie stars. But he also captures them with the delicate mastery of an artisan. Each nook and cranny is highlighted, bringing us closer into this forgotten world; you feel your body moving physically closer to the image. It’s a beautiful form of history lesson blown up on grand gallery walls.
Controlled Burn, 2022. 4K film, 16:9 aspect ratio, 3D ambisonic soundscape, continuous video loop, 32 minutes. © Julian Charrière / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany 2023. Courtesy: the artist and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles
In Buried Sunshine, Charrière was interested in the cross-section between humans and their environment, especially how it can lead to unfortunate scenarios. When we see this rich underbelly of LA highlighted, this forgotten world is appreciated, yes, but also mourned; this is his mastery coming into play. The images look and feel old, yet the past they present is not so distant from us. He wants us to be philosophical about his art, begging us to ask what fossil fuels mean to us and the world we currently live in. Speaking on his medium, Charrière said, “Photography is not neutral: every image has a shadow. Every digital image made today exists as a negative in the form of fossil fuel being burned somewhere; of the flash of electricity needed to generate them.” The essence of Buried Sunshine can be traced back to its subject matter. It’s mind-blowing but also harrowing. Our actions are destroying the planet, leaving it unable to keep up with our consumption habits. If this series intends to do anything, it's to inspire us to clean up our world and appreciate what we have now. Maybe in two hundred years, an artist will have a series about what our world looks like now. Will people be mourning at that time?
