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Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs The Alberta tar sands are a place of superlatives, a place of awesome beauty and destruction. To fly over them is to be part of a kaleidoscope of contrasts, colours, and patterns keeping time with the certain and unstoppable movement of machinery, smoke and effluent below. Their scale is other worldly. The details peculiar and surreal. They are incredible. The tar sands defy the imagination and any normal human experience. They move the soul and are artistically compelling. The simple beauties of the place – the colours, forms, lines, the play of oil, water and light – set against jarring contrasts – wipe judgment and editorialization away. The filters fall. It becomes child’s play to see, to feel, to be carried by emotion, instinct or intuition, to be present. Canada is America’s single biggest supplier of oil, mostly from the tar sands. Have we as Canadians abdicated our responsibility for what we are doing in our own backyard? The tar sands permeate almost every element of Canadian society, economy, culture, environment, our relationships with each other, and even our identity. It seems, however, that industry and environmentalists and not a few government officials & politicians are mostly content to stoke a caricature of a debate in Canada, that pivots around us vs. them: East vs. West, Toronto vs. Calgary, industry vs. environmentalists. The substantive meaningful debates are taking place in the United States or Europe, defining us – Canadians and Canadian society – in absentia. My hope is that these images will encourage all Canadians to start talking and asking questions; engaging with the photos, each other and the issue of the Tar Sands. As an artist it has been my good fortune to have met many people who either live or work or once lived or worked in the tar sands or Fort McMurray, Fort MacKay or Fort Chipewayn. Each has, in sharing his or her experiences and opinions, provided a nuanced, human view of the tar sands full of the contradictions and drama inherent to seeing both the good and the bad of what they are part of. We and our institutions might do very well if we paid more attention to those closest to it. They don’t shirk the reality of the tar sands. They’ve affirmed for me what I saw, felt and responded to, that the tar sands are as good and bad, as beautiful and destructive as we are as human beings. |
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Artist CV Louis Helbig 1-149 Patterson Ave, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1S 1Y4 (613) 263 0264 louishelbig (at) egamiimage (dot) ca
As of July 21, 2010
Current Events Ottawa City Hall Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON. 2010 Exhibition Season, July 23 to Sept 26, 2010. Ottawa City Hall. Solo exhibition, Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs. Vernissage July 22, 2010 5:30-7:30PM. Juried. http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/arts/galleries_exhibit/city_hall/2010_exhibits/index_en.html
Ottawa Art Gallery, Art Rental & Sales Service. Select aerial images on display. 2 Daly Ave, Ottawa, ON. 613 233 8865. http://www.ottawaartgallery.ca/art-rental/index-en.php
Future Exhibitions & Events Artist Talk, Ottawa City Hall Art Gallery, Sunday, Sept 26, 2010 at 2PM. Art in View Lecture, hosted by the Volunteer Circle at the National Art Gallery, Ottawa. Sept 29 & 30, 2010. COEXIST Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. 2011 Exhibition Schedule. Date TBD. http://www.coexist-art.com/gallery.html
Past Exhibitions & Events Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, ON, Canada. July 9,10, 11, 2010. Juried. http://www.torontooutdoorart.org/ Contact Toronto Photography Festival. May 1 – July 8, 2010. The Rivoli, 334 Queen St. West, Toronto, ON Canada. Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs. Hours: 11:30 - 2AM, 7 days/week. New Art Festival. June 5 & 6, 2010. Ottawa, ON. Juried. ARTIST TALK LOUIS HELBIG Tuesday May 4, 2009 The Rivoli. Helbig spoke about his award winning exhibition "Beautiful Destruction - AB Tar Sands Aerial Photographs." galleryDK, Toronto. March 4 – 28, 2010. 1332 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, Canada. Solo exhibition, Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs. http://www.gallerydk.com/ Toronto Art Expo, Toronto, ON, Canada. Feb 25-28, 2010. Selections from Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs & aerial images other parts of Canada. Juried. http://www.torontoartexpo.com/home.html HAITIAN DISASTER FUNDRAISER. Tuesday Feb 9, 2010, Cube Gallery, 7 Hamilton Street, Ottawa. Residual Bitumen donated. Snapdragon Gallery, Ottawa. Dec 10 – Jan 31, 2010. 791 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON. Solo exhibition, Beautiful Destruction & selection of aerial images other parts of Canada. http://www.snapdragongallery.com/ Frederic Remington Art Museum, Ogdensburg, NY, USA. 5th biannual International Juried Art Exhibit Nov 7, 2009 – Jan 16, 2010. Juried: joint exhibition with single works from 39 artists chosen from 220 submissions. Selected work: Alluvial Fan. http://www.fredericremington.org/index.php University of Ottawa. As part of Green Weeks. Campus exhibition of Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs. Nov 2, 2009 – Jan 7, 2010. One of a Kind Christmas Show & Sale, Toronto, ON, Canada. Nov 26 - Dec 6, 2009. Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, 100 Princes' Blvd., Toronto ON. Juried. http://www.oneofakindshow.com/xmas09/ Ottawa expo d’Art expo 2009. October 30 – November 1, 2009. Juried art show. The St. Elias Centre, 750 Ridgewood Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, http://www.ottawaartexpo.com/ Arts and Architecture Gallery, Ottawa. July 8 – Aug 2, 2009. Arts & Architecture Gallery, 1181 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON. Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs. http://www.artsandarchitecture.ca/welcome.html Viva Vida Gallery, Pointe-Claire (Montréal) Quebec. Ongoing from June 20, 2009. 48-3 Ste Anne Avenue, Pointe-Claire, QC. http://www.vivavidaartgallery.com/ The New Art Festival, Ottawa. June 6&7, 2009. Awarded Best Work on Paper (Printmaking/Photography) – the Patrick Gordon Framing Award. http://www.artinfoboy.org/awards.html Contact Toronto Photography Festival. April 30 – May 31, 2009. Koma Designs, 1239 Queens Str West Toronto. Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs Contact Toronto Photography Festival. April 30 – May 9, 2009. Ben Navaee Gallery, 1111 Queen Str East, Toronto. Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs Ottawa International Writers’ Festival. April 22 – May 2, 2009. Saint Brigids Centre for the Arts & Humanities, 314 St. Patrick Street, Ottawa. Beautiful Destruction – Alberta Tar Sands Aerial Photographs Art in the Park, Ottawa. June 2008. Exhibition of Aerial Photographs, Ottawa area. Agriculture, urban, rural & industrial themes. Over and Under, Aerial & Underwater Photographs. Joint Exhibition with Ric Frazier. May 2 – May 13, 2008. Red Wall Gallery, School of Photographic Arts Ottawa (SPAO), 168 Dalhousie Str. Ottawa. http://www.spao.ca/redwall.html
Media – Reviews & Recommendations: Business Insider (New York) Big Beautiful Photos Of Canada's Lucrative And Destructive Oil Sands, by Isabelle Schafer, July 12, 2010. TerraInforma,(Edmonton, June 8, 2010) Feature Interview: Louis Helbig’s Birds Eye View of the Tar Sands. http://terrainforma.ca/2010/06/08/louis-helbigs-birds-eye-view-of-the-tar-sands/ FUTURÉALE Toronto Arts & Culture Magazine (July 1, 2009) Cover & inside photos & exclusive interview. “CONTACTing the Public: Louis Helbig’s Beautiful Destruction.” http://www.futureale.com/magazine/2009/july/ Toronto Star (May 25, 2009) “A Photo a Day: Contact 2009 … Helbig's aerial images teeter between document and abstraction, and capture the terrible beauty of man's ability to alter the landscape at will." http://thestar.blogs.com/untitled/2009/05/a-photo-a-day-contact-09-louis-helbig-koma-designs.html Los Angeles Anthem Magazine (Los Angeles, USA, May 1, 2009) "Louis Helbig, an Ottowan obsessed with the mind-bending Canadian tar sands" http://anthemmagazine.com/story/1503 Toronto Now Magazine (Toronto, ON, April 30, 2009) "worth seeing ... as part of the Contact Photography Festival" http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=169221 Adrian Harewood, host of CBC All In A Day, (Ottawa, April 21, 2009) described the images as "stunning."
Publications & Film: Powerful: Energy For Everyone, full-length documentary film directed by David Chernushenko. Still photographs & speaking role on the Tar Sands and civil society. http://www.livinglightly.ca/powerful/ World Premiere date TBD Reader’s Digest, photos as two-page opening spread. July 2010. Writing Matters: A Handbook for Writing and Research, McGraw-Hill Higher Education Publishers (2010, Columbus, OH, USA) Author: Rebecca Moore Howard. With Ric Frazier photos from Over/Under exhibition. Dirty Oil, full-length feature film directed by Academy Award nominated director Leslie Iwerks. Narration by Neve Campbell. Still photographs. World Premier Hampton’s International Film Festival, New York, October 11, 2009. http://www.babelgum.com/dirtyoil Canadian Dimension, inside photo accompanying story: “The Road to Copenhagen Doesn’t go through the Tar Sands.” November/December, 2009. http://canadiandimension.com/magazine/issue/november-december-2009/ Manitoba Eco-Journal, Photo Essay: Beautiful Destruction. September/October, 2009. http://mbeconetwork.org/eco_journal Art not Oil: 2010 Diary published by Rising Tide UK, September 2009. October 2009. Bitumen Slick selected as one of “52 of the strongest” worldwide submissions. http://www.artnotoil.org.uk/ United Church Observer. Cover & inside photos accompanying feature story on Alberta Tar Sands. Toronto, ON. September, 2009. http://www.ucobserver.org/justice/2009/09/tar_sands/ Divided We Fall: The Tar Sands vs. The Rest of Canada, Matt Price, Environmental Defence, Gillian McEachern, Forest Ethics & Jacque LaCroix, Equiterre. May 2009. Cover Photo. http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/reports/dived_we_fall.html Journal of Environmental Health Perspectives. Cover photo to accompany focus (lead) story: Oil Sands Development: A Health Risk Worth Taking?. April, 2009 http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2009/117-4/toc.html Sierra Club, SCAN. Cover photo to accompany story on the tar sands & President Obama’s visit to Ottawa. April, 2009. http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/scan/index.html Freedom from Dirty Oil: Ontario’s Tar Sands Decision, by Matt Price, Environmental Defence & Gillian McEachern, Forest Ethics. Cover & some inside photos. January 2009 http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/reports/tarsands_jan_2009.html SPAO Spring-Summer Calendar 2008. School of Photograhic Arts: Ottawa. Cover photo to introduce Louis Helbig’s workshop/course: “Go Up, Look Down and See: Aerial Photography”
Websites: http://egamiimage.ca, http://www.aerialart.ca, http://www.louishelbig.com http://www.beautifuldestruction.ca
Employment 2006 – present egamiimage.ca – self-employed. Photography business, Ottawa. (2008 – instructor – aerial photography, School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa. Course calendar Summer & Fall 2008)
Until 2006 consulting/employment as senior economist, policy analyst, conference director, economics instructor, research assistant, commercial pilot, editor etc, variously with Foreign Affairs Canada, Canadian Diabetes Association, Sharp Wings, CUSO, Canadian Co-op Association, Government of British Columbia, University College of the Cariboo, etc.
Education 2007-2008 The Art of Inkjet Printmaking & Photojournalism & Documentary Photography courses at the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa (SPAO) 2006-2007 Photoshop (Introduction & Advanced) courses at Algonquin College, Ottawa 2001-ongoing Self instruction & development – aerial photography 1996-1997 Uppsala University, Sweden. preliminary Ph.D. studies 1995-1996 London School of Economics. Master of Science, Economic History 1991-1995 McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Bachelor of Arts, Great Distinction: Political Science, Economics, & International Development
Other English & German. Functional Swedish & French. Extensive travel/residence throughout Asia & Europe. Extensive backcountry experience in Canadian wilderness. |
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