In our travels, Mr. Forager and I have been very fortunate to have seen some amazingly beautiful places.  Unfortunately, for many, the opportunity to see unspoiled beauty is rare.  Our landscapes are filled with strip malls and fast food joints, rather than untamed forests.  In his resin cast work, Los Angeles artist Brooks Kalzwedel examines this dichotomy of urban development versus wilderness.

In these heavily layered pieces, Salzwedel’s landscapes are disrupted by electrical towers and sprawl, almost seeming to be choked by encroaching development.  The mechanical elements look to be nearly parasitical, especially in Tendrils ( 3rd down ), they seem to have incorporated themselves as a part of the root.

Such beauty, yet so filled with sadness for what is lost.  If you’d like to see more of Brooks Salzwedel‘s work, please visit his website.  If you’re in the San Fran/Oakland area, you can see his work being shown with Mayumi Hamanaka in the two person exhibition, Temporal Void at Johansson Projects in Oakland until January 16, 2014.

PS–Thanks to The Jealous Curator for reminding me of Brooks’ work!

All images are via the artist’s website.