Water transforms the Channel Country, filling channels carved over millennia. Reached after days of 4WDing across the floodplains of outback Australia, this fleeting world exists for only weeks after rare floodwaters sweep down from Central Queensland, turning one of the driest places on Earth into something impossibly alive. Shot from the air, the veins of water threading through the landscape trace a story older than memory.
Intrepid (Line 646)
Exploring the world in high resolution shows the art of Planet Earth in ways that were shrouded for most of the 20th Century. I have a book titled Colors of the Earth by Bernard Edmaier that shows how patterns appear on the surface of our world as we hover above it. While I love the book, even the printed imagery struggles to get as close to the intricate patterned colors of Intrepid (Line 646)'s work.
Globe Trotter
Salt by Intrepid (Line 646) is another mind bender of an image, where the expected color palette of nature is dispensed to remind us that Mother Nature is just as happy painting our world in light pastels and geometric lines. Sure you have got to do a bit of travelling and know where you are going -- fortunately for Intrepid, that is the spirit embodied by his lens based art form.
The salt mountains and pink lakes of Bonaire challenge your fundamental perception of what earthly landscapes look like. Salvador Dali's quote "Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision" is even more profound when applied to superreal landscapes.
Road Trippin'
Closer to home, Intrepid (Line 646) sears the visual memory of what touring the Aussie outback actually means. While the normal coal digging Kiwi expats over there will say there are hundreds of miles of nothing -- Intrepid shows that is not exactly true. If you take the time to look, you will again find the patterned beauty in the simplest of nature's desert coverings.
Few places in this world hold the allure of the Australian outback. The weathered red and orange dirt of an ancient landscape. The seemingly endless days of driving. The feeling like you are travelling through not just space, but through time itself. Not quite sure where you are going, but being pulled out further into the sublime endlessness.
Intrepid (Line 646)
Inspired by Nature
Photographers like Intrepid (Line 646) -- you can call him Rob -- who travel get a natural advantage in capturing some of the most outrageous creations that nature has made over millennia. Rachel Wood (Line 300), Eric Bleicher (Line 312), Wala Savage (Line 48) and Newlight Visuals (Line 58) all bring the outside world to us via their tokenized artworks and we are the better for it.
