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Politicians Beware: Oil Photo Exhibit Opens in DC

Washington DC – Politicians, cover your eyes.

The first exhibit of 56 large-scale color landscapes from Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky chronicling the impact of oil made its debut Saturday at Washington’s Corcoran Gallery of Art – less than a block from the White House. The show, chronicling the world’s predominant energy source, can’t help carrying a political zing.

“Edward Burtynsky: Oil,” opens at the privately funded museum as Congress is struggling with a climate bill that could include a “cap and trade” system to reduce greenhouse gases. Critics say it could drive up energy costs.

“We hoped that there would be something going on around oil,” curator Paul Roth said of the museum’s plans for the exhibit beginning two years ago. “At a certain point, we realized, no, it’s Washington and it’s oil. There will be something going on.”

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The show, underwritten by Canada’s Scotiabank, will be on view at the Corcoran through December, then will travel to Canada and other destinations through 2012. Corcoran officials also expect a smaller version to travel in Europe.

Burtynsky spent 12 years exploring the subject, following past projects on mines, quarries and farming. The images are divided thematically to show how oil is extracted from the earth and how it drives transportation and development. It ends with a frightening thought – the end of oil.

Some of the most striking images depict the abandoned, rusting oil fields of Azerbaijan in 2006, where the earth has been tapped dry.

The Toronto-based artist, who is the son of a General Motors production worker, said he had an “oil epiphany” in 1997 and was compelled to learn more. The exhibit was conceived when President George W. Bush, once an oil businessman, was still in office.

“I thought whoever the new guy is will have to have a different perspective, you know?” Burtynsky said. “Otherwise, America is in trouble.”