The New Yorker, April 9, 2007
Goings On About Town
Vince Aletti
MITCH EPSTEIN
At nearly six by eight feet, Epstein's new color photographs are the biggest he's shown so far, and not every image lives up to its ambitious scale. But those that do are spectacular, often in the most understated way. Epstein's subject is "American Power," meaning our use and misuse of energy, so pictures of suburban power plants and gorgeous, baroque plumes of coal smoke are placed alongside shots of the sculptural left behind by Hurricane Katrina. In Biloxi, a ruined tree festooned with debris becomes a magnificent surrealist object. Things may be spinning out of control, but Epstein has rarely had a surer sense of his material. Through April 7. (Sikkema Jenkins, 530 W. 22nd St. 212-929-2262)