Blast

Brought to our attention last month by Nowness, we are smitten by the incredible photographic series and accompanying video named ‘Blast’ in which visionary photographer Jim Mangan has caught rally car driver Ken Block sublimely. In August 2013, Mangan asked his friend Block to demonstrate his skills at the wheel for a photo project. His idea was to photograph clouds of dust in mountainous southern Utah a rugged desert area he’d explored dozens of times while camping and mountain biking and the kind of arena where the photographer has proven to produce his most remarkable images. To achieve his vision of hybridizing landscape and machine, Mangan needed someone with the daring and a car with the power to wreak havoc on the remote landscape and send trailing puffs of dirt into the air. The two finally got together last year for several days of shooting in the valleys extending some 74 miles between Capitol Reef National Park and Goblin Valley, Utah. The results are incredible.

In the eerie 75-mile stretch of desert between Capital Reef and Goblin Valley, Utah, professional rally car driver Ken Block—who is also the co-founder of DC Shoes—sends engulfing dust clouds swirling through the jagged landscape. Blast captures the chaos and the beauty of displaced dirt.

Jim Mangan‘s life long history with the American west landscape is central to his work. His work has universal appeal, and has been featured in a range of mediums; from the cover of VICE Magazine’s photography issue to the exhibition Perception of Landscape Today at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany. His work has been in exhibitions at numerous galleries and museums worldwide, among which are 205-A in New York City, Deichtorhallen Museum House of Photography inHamburg, Germany, Museum of Contemporary Art Utah, The Hole in New York and Martha Otero Gallery in Los Angeles among others. Jim Mangan was born and raised in Illinois, and currently lives between Europe, New York and Utah. Mangan’s latest publication is ‘Blast’ which was released by Dashwood Books this year.

Order ‘Blast’ by Dashwood Books here

To see the whole feature head over to Nowness here