Undaunted, Misrach continued with the project. By the late 1980s, he began work on a "Canto" called "Clouds (Non-Equivalents)," photographs made in the desert of natural and man-made clouds: At least one image of a dark cloud has an industrial smokestack cropped just outside the frame.
Misrach has since begun work on additional "Cantos"--photographs he's not yet comfortable discussing--but, as with other segments, "Skies" is far from complete for him. He sees the series as the apotheosis of the entire project so far.
"You think you're just looking at beautiful light, color and form. There seems to be no political content. There's nothing about the cultural landscape. And yet it's so loaded."
He heightens that paradox in "Skies" through the labeling of the exact location, date and minute the pictures are made. "Photography is about the instantaneous moment, and yet skies have always been associated with eternity, the ethereal and timelessness."
Not surprisingly, the photographer has no plans yet to move on to subjects outside his beloved desert terrain.
"My work keeps evolving, and I never really know where it's going to go. The desert leads me, rather than the other way around."
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"SKIES," Jan Kesner Gallery, 164 N. La Brea Ave. Dates: Opens Saturday. Regular hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ends Oct. 12. Phone: (213) 938-6834.
