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David Maisel

David Maisel

  • Biography
  • Works
  • Exhibitions
  • News
  • Press
  • American, b. 1961 Lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA David Maisel’s photographs chronicle the complex relationships...

    American, b. 1961

    Lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA

     

    David Maisel’s photographs chronicle the complex relationships between natural systems and human intervention, often focusing on the physical transformation of the landscape caused by industrial efforts. Maisel’s aerial images of sites around the world initially appear abstract and painterly — offering detailed but open-ended visual information that operates as both documentary and metaphor, seducing viewers with a strange beauty that critics have dubbed “the apocalyptic sublime.”
     
    Maisel’s photographs, multi-media projects, and public installations have recently been exhibited in the Autry Museum of the Ameerican West, Los Angeles, CA and CSU Dominguez Hills, CA, both part of Pacific Standard Time 2024; as well as at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain (2022); Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C (2021); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2021); Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA (2021, 2019); Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand (2020); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2019); Denver Art Museum, CO (2018); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea (2018); Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, CA; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA (2016); ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe, Germany (2016); HALLE 14 Center for Contemporary Art, Leipzig, Germany (2016); National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C (2015); and San Jose Museum of Art (2015). His works are included in many public collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. 
     
    Maisel was a Scholar in Residence at the Getty Research Institute, and Artist in Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018, as well as am Individual Artist’s Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (1990) and Investing in Artists Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation (2011). His work has been the subject of seven monographs: The Lake Project (Nazraeli Press, 2004), Oblivion (Nazraeli Press, 2006), Library of Dust (Chronicle Books, 2008), History’s Shadow (Nazraeli Press, 2011), Black Maps (Steidl, 2013), Mount St Helens: Afterlife (Ivorypress, 2018), Proving Ground (Radius Books and the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, 2020).
     
    Artist CV (PDF)
  • Works
    • David Maisel Desolation Desert, Tailings Pond 1, Minera Centinela Copper Mine, Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile, 2018 Archival Pigment Print 50.5 x 50.5 inches, framed
      David Maisel
      Desolation Desert, Tailings Pond 1, Minera Centinela Copper Mine, Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile, 2018
      Archival Pigment Print
      50.5 x 50.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EDesolation%20Desert%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ETailings%20Pond%201%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EMinera%20Centinela%20Copper%20Mine%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EAntofagasta%20Region%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EAtacama%20Desert%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EChile%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2018%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E50.5%20x%2050.5%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
    • David Maisel Desolation Desert, Tailings Pond 4, Minera Centinela Copper Mine, Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile, 2018 Archival Pigment Print 48 x 48 inches / 50.5 x 50. 5 inches, framed
      David Maisel
      Desolation Desert, Tailings Pond 4, Minera Centinela Copper Mine, Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile, 2018
      Archival Pigment Print
      48 x 48 inches / 50.5 x 50. 5 inches, framed
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EDesolation%20Desert%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3ETailings%20Pond%204%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EMinera%20Centinela%20Copper%20Mine%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EAntofagasta%20Region%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EAtacama%20Desert%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EChile%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2018%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E48%20x%2048%20inches%20/%2050.5%20x%2050.%205%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
    • David Maisel Desolation Desert, Iodine Sulfate Nitrate Extraction 1, Aguas Blancas, Atacama, Chile, 2018 Archival Pigment Print 31.5 31.5 inches, framed
      David Maisel
      Desolation Desert, Iodine Sulfate Nitrate Extraction 1, Aguas Blancas, Atacama, Chile, 2018
      Archival Pigment Print
      31.5 31.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EDesolation%20Desert%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EIodine%20Sulfate%20Nitrate%20Extraction%201%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EAguas%20Blancas%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EAtacama%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EChile%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2018%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E31.5%20%2031.5%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
    • David Maisel The Mining Project (Clifton, Arizona 7), 1989 Archival Pigment Print, Printed 2013 50.5 x 50.5 inches, framed
      David Maisel
      The Mining Project (Clifton, Arizona 7), 1989
      Archival Pigment Print, Printed 2013
      50.5 x 50.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EThe%20Mining%20Project%20%28Clifton%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EArizona%207%29%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E1989%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3EPrinted%202013%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E50.5%20x%2050.5%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
    • David Maisel The Fall (Borox 2), 2013 Archival Pigment Print 50.5 x 50.5 inches, framed
      David Maisel
      The Fall (Borox 2), 2013
      Archival Pigment Print
      50.5 x 50.5 inches, framed
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EThe%20Fall%20%28Borox%202%29%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2013%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E50.5%20x%2050.5%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
    • David Maisel History’s Shadow AV9, 2010 Archival Pigment Print Available in two sizes: 40 x 30 inches 64 x 48 inches
      David Maisel
      History’s Shadow AV9, 2010
      Archival Pigment Print
      Available in two sizes:
      40 x 30 inches
      64 x 48 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EHistory%E2%80%99s%20Shadow%20AV9%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2010%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3EAvailable%20in%20two%20sizes%3A%3Cbr/%3E%0A40%20x%2030%20inches%3Cbr/%3E%0A64%20x%2048%20inches%20%3C/div%3E
    • David Maisel History's Shadow AB1, 2020 Archival Pigment Print Available in two sizes: 40 x 30 inches 64 x 48 inches
      David Maisel
      History's Shadow AB1, 2020
      Archival Pigment Print
      Available in two sizes:
      40 x 30 inches
      64 x 48 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EHistory%27s%20Shadow%20AB1%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2020%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3EAvailable%20in%20two%20sizes%3A%3Cbr/%3E%0A40%20x%2030%20inches%3Cbr/%3E%0A64%20x%2048%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • David Maisel History’s Shadow GM12, 2010 Archival Pigment Print 64 x 48 inches
      David Maisel
      History’s Shadow GM12, 2010
      Archival Pigment Print
      64 x 48 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EDavid%20Maisel%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EHistory%E2%80%99s%20Shadow%20GM12%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2010%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EArchival%20Pigment%20Print%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E64%20x%2048%20inches%3C/div%3E
  • Exhibitions
    • David Maisel: Un/Earthed

      David Maisel: Un/Earthed

      November 3, 2023 - January 6, 2024
      Haines Gallery proudly presents David Maisel: Un/Earthed , our eighth solo exhibition with the Bay Area artist. For over thirty years, Maisel has created powerful photographs of sites transformed by...
      Read more
    • A Cure for Everything

      A Cure for Everything

      January 5 - March 23, 2019
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present A Cure for Everything , a group exhibition bringing together works by nine artists working in photography, print, and video. Employing alternative or experimental...
      Read more
    • David Maisel: Proving Ground

      David Maisel: Proving Ground

      January 4 - February 24, 2018
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present Proving Ground , a solo exhibition of new work by photographer David Maisel (b. 1961, New York, NY; lives and works in San Francisco,...
      Read more
    • David Maisel: The Fall

      David Maisel: The Fall

      January 7 - March 12, 2016
      Haines Gallery proudly presents The Fall , a series of recent color photographs by California–based artist David Maisel . For nearly three decades, Maisel has created rigorous, captivating aerial photographs...
      Read more
    • Goethe's Chamber

      Goethe's Chamber

      January 8 - February 28, 2015
      Goethe’s Chamber is a group exhibition that invites visitors to reconsider vision as an embodied, subjective and durational experience, continuously augmented by emergent technologies and theorized from various vantages throughout...
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    • Fundamental Abstraction III

      Fundamental Abstraction III

      January 9 - March 1, 2014
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present Fundamental Abstraction III , a group exhibition featuring an international selection of artists concerned with the formal aspects of line, color, shape and composition...
      Read more
    • David Maisel: Mining

      David Maisel: Mining

      September 5 - October 26, 2013
      David MaisEL first began to photograph open pit mines from the air in the mid–1980s, intrigued by the radical transformation of the American landscape by the extraction of natural resources....
      Read more
  • News
    • David Maisel Museum Exhibition, Jonathan Lethem’s Parallel Play: Contemporary Art and Art Writing Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College, Claremont,...
      News

      David Maisel
      Museum Exhibition

      Jonathan Lethem’s Parallel Play: Contemporary Art and Art Writing
      Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
      February 13 - June 29, 2025
      Being part of the contemporary art world for decades and well known for his novels, Jonathan Lethem’s Parallel Play is a chronicle of an author who roams among visual artists....
    • David Maisel Group Exhibition, Civilization: The Way We Live Now Kunsthalle München, Germany April 11 - August 24, 2025
      News

      David Maisel
      Group Exhibition

      Civilization: The Way We Live Now
      Kunsthalle München, Germany
      April 11 - August 24, 2025
      Civilization: The Way We Live Now, follows humanity’s visible traces around the globe from the perspective of more than 100 internationally renowned photographers, including David Maisel . The exhibition sheds...
    • David Maisel Museum Exhibition, The Long View: From Conservation to Sustainability Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, AR June...
      News

      David Maisel
      Museum Exhibition

      The Long View: From Conservation to Sustainability
      Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, AR
      June 13 - August 31, 2025
      The Long View: From Conservation to Sustainability | Works from the Bank of America Collection traces the history and impact of the environmental movement through the lens of art. Spanning...
  • Press
  • "The Power of Place," Aesthetica, April 1, 2024

    David Roth, "David Maisel @ Haines," Squarecylinder.com, November 13, 2023

    Jackson Arn, “God’s-Eye Views: Aerial Photography in the Southwest,” Art in America, November 2022

    Pia Peterson, “These Beautiful Photos Show The Horrific Legacy Of Humans,” BuzzFeed News, November 18, 2021

    “Artists around the world raise a ruckus over resource extraction” The Economist, July 12, 2021

    Mark Jenkins, “A Smithsonian museum turns to art, not science, to hammer home a warning about Mother Nature,” The Washington Post, July 6, 2021

    Roger Catlin, “The Sad Truths Behind These Unsettling Works of Art,” Smithsonian Magazine, June 14, 2021

    “The open-air lab testing the world's deadliest poisons,” BBC Reel, November 12, 2020

    Gian Volpicelli, “Inside the open-air lab testing viruses and deadly chemicals,” Wired, August 29, 2020

    Giovanni Rodriguez, “Easter Vision: Photographer Resurrects Disaster Simulation Site Built Last Century So We Can Reimagine The Future,” Forbes, April 12, 2020

    Albert Mobilio, “Proving Ground,” Bookforum, April/May 2020

    Roger Catlin, “Twenty Smithsonian Shows to See in 2020,” Smithsonian Magazine, February 6, 2020

    Amit Katwala, “The devastating environmental impact of technological progress,” Wired, October 27, 2019

    Charles Desmarais, “‘A Cure for Everything’ offered at Haines Gallery,” San Francisco Chronicle, January 23, 2019

    David M. Roth, “A Cure for Everything @ Haines,” Squarecylinder.com, January 11, 2019

    Patrick Rogers, “A Bird’s-Eye Perspective Can Find Beauty in the Planet’s Dirtiest Places,” NRDC onEarth, July 3, 2018

    Marie Doyon, “David Maisel’s Aerial Photography,” Chronogram, March 1, 2018

    Roula Seikaly, "Photographing Utah's Closely Guarded Military Installation," Humble Arts Foundation, January 18, 2018

    Jonathan Curiel, "David Maisel and the Art of War, in Proving Ground," SF Weekly, January 10, 2018

    Mark Alice Durant, "David Maisel," Saint Lucy, June 1, 2017

    "David Maisel | nga," National Gallery of Art, May 9, 2017

    Glen Helfand, "Death from above: how David Maisel turned the 'new area 51' into land art," The Guardian, May 5, 2017

    David Roth, “Best of 2016: David Maisel @ Haines,” Squarecylinder.com, January 5, 2017

    Stephanie Strasnick, “These Otherworldly Aerial Photographs Show Spain as You’ve Never Seen It Before,” Architectural Digest, February 18, 2016

    Mikko Lautamo, “David Maisel @ Haines,” Squarecylinder.com, February 3, 2017

    Laura Mallonee, "Sweeping Aerial Shots of Spain Look Like Alien Terrain," Wired, January 28, 2016

    Marcia Bjornerud, "David Maisel's Geometric Geographies," The New Yorker, January 13, 2016

    Glen Helfand, "David Maisel: The Fall at Haines Gallery, San Francisco," Photograph, January 2016

    Canbra Hodsdon, "Ancient X-Rays," Juxtapoz, December 4, 2014

    Geoff Manaugh, "The Fall," BLDGBLOG, August 18, 2014

    David M. Roth, "David Maisel @ Haines," Squarecylinder.com, October 8, 2013

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