Cover of Transfigurations by Michael Lundgren, published by Radius Books

I have been an admirer of Michael Lundgren's work for awhile, long having had his website in my bookmarks. One day, while wandering from gallery to gallery in Chelsea, I found myself inside Clamp Art where I paged through a copy of Lundgren's book Transfigurations. A few minutes later I was racing home with the book in my bag.

In the moment of decision before buying a new book, I sometimes ask myself: will I ever finish this, or, for that matter, return to it again? When I picked up Transfigurations a few months ago, I had no idea just how many times I would return to it. However, I've re-opened the book nearly every time I've passed by my bookshelf, even if just for a second.

Yuha Basin, form Transfigurations, by Michael Lundgren

The book opens with a scintillating introduction to the desert by Rebecca Solnit, who writes:

With time you learn to see what is absent: the spring in the winter, the mountain lion in the devoured stag, the flows of water that carved the dry land, the bygone feet that walked the path into being, the living in the dead, the movement in the stones. Only with time. If you come here seeking something particular you may find only it. Or find nothing. But if you come seeking the desert it will be given to you in time, if you take care not to get so irrevocably lost that you too become bones out here, but lots enough to find what you did not know you were looking for.

Like stepping into a dark theater, it might take a moment for your eyes to adjust before you can view the images of Transfigurations. However, Solnit's essay gives just the right context for really seeing the work. Some images are full of subtle grays, others at first glance, appear underexposed or blank, but keep looking and, as Solnit says, "it will be given to you in time."

Spread from Transfigurations by Michael Lundgren

The series is one that Lundgren worked exclusively on for seven years, and the resulting images are nothing short of transcendent. Through you can view the images online, it becomes clear when leafing through the book, richly printed by publisher Radius Books, that this is how the work is best experienced.

Lundgren writes:

These photographs are a lust for the primitive, for what lies behind personality. They are a search to understand beauty and terror, which are bound to one utter certainty—change. In the desert nothing is static; even rocks move. Through intuition, I hope to photograph the impossible, to fix the fugitive on film.

While the internet has made it easier than ever before to access art, many essential qualities are lost when viewing on the internet. Shortly after purchasing the book, I ordered one of Lundgren's prints then another. I can't recommend Transfigurations highly enough, but also offer a warning that it may result in subsequent impulse art purchases.

As quick sidenote: Radius Books publisher Darius Himes is the first guest curator of our photography competition Hey, Hot Shot!. Darius will be reviewing all entries submitted by 12am EST *tonight* and send his choice a Radius Books gift bag, with three books—including Transfigurations!