More than meets the eye … and
then some
FORCING NATURE
Trees in Los Angeles
By George Haas
Paging through the luminous
“portraits” of Los Angeles trees in
George Haas’s lavish Forcing
Nature, the reader may be torn
between embracing the City of
Angels and never wanting to step
foot anywhere near it. His
meditative, inscrutable, and often
haunting vision is one of
humanity and respect, but also of
longing and dread. As twisted
and neglected as the Los
Angeles River, Haas’s exquisite
color and black & white
photographs catch the eye as
silent witnesses to the excesses
of the modern urban sprawl.
Reprocessed with the latest
computer technology, his brilliant
photography evokes the sense of
place that is LAs’ famously
artificial landscape, most of
which, given three weeks without
then some
FORCING NATURE
Trees in Los Angeles
By George Haas
Paging through the luminous
“portraits” of Los Angeles trees in
George Haas’s lavish Forcing
Nature, the reader may be torn
between embracing the City of
Angels and never wanting to step
foot anywhere near it. His
meditative, inscrutable, and often
haunting vision is one of
humanity and respect, but also of
longing and dread. As twisted
and neglected as the Los
Angeles River, Haas’s exquisite
color and black & white
photographs catch the eye as
silent witnesses to the excesses
of the modern urban sprawl.
Reprocessed with the latest
computer technology, his brilliant
photography evokes the sense of
place that is LAs’ famously
artificial landscape, most of
which, given three weeks without
water, would dry up and blow away.
And yet, when most people think of LA, steeped in diversity and multi-
culturalism, trees rarely spring to mind. But the landscape is virtually
defined by trees, and while Angelinos take pride in them, they also
can take them for granted. Not so for Haas, who is more apt to focus
on them and redefine the world by shifting attention from the activity
of human beings to the activity of trees. Not merely content to capture
images through his lens, Haas as artist and philosopher bends,
stretches, and blurs reality into what we perceive it to be, transforming
the raw data of the world into his personal point of view. In his 80
splendid images, Haas has forced Nature to do his bidding.
If Haas evokes the grand tradition of American landscape
photography while working in the cutting-edge technologies of 21st
century, as a book, Forcing Nature literally has two distinct sides as
well. The handsome volume is designed so that the reader may start
on one side and page through the color plates in a horizontal format,
or turn it around and follow the black & white images in a vertical
format. The photographs are further illuminated by penetrating essays
by Arty Nelson, Carolyn Peters, James McCourt, and Haas himself.
Forcing Nature is a testament to Haas as a photographer, but also as
an architect, visionary, prankster, ecologist, and, in his method of
reproduction, something of an alchemist. The reader will surely come
away looking at the familiar and not merely seeing it.
George Haas’s photographs have appeared in exhibitions around the
country, and his photos and written work have appeared in many
publications, including The New York Times. His stage work has been
performed nationally, including No Entiendes and Doris and Inez
Speak the Truth. He also wrote and directed the feature film Friends
and Lovers. Haas lives in Los Angeles.
FORCING NATURE
Trees in Los Angeles
By George Haas
A Vincent Virga Book/Bunker Hill Publishing
December 2006
$35.00/hardcover - 11 X 14 ins. – 96 pages
40 color plates/40 black & white plates
ISBN: 1593730500
And yet, when most people think of LA, steeped in diversity and multi-
culturalism, trees rarely spring to mind. But the landscape is virtually
defined by trees, and while Angelinos take pride in them, they also
can take them for granted. Not so for Haas, who is more apt to focus
on them and redefine the world by shifting attention from the activity
of human beings to the activity of trees. Not merely content to capture
images through his lens, Haas as artist and philosopher bends,
stretches, and blurs reality into what we perceive it to be, transforming
the raw data of the world into his personal point of view. In his 80
splendid images, Haas has forced Nature to do his bidding.
If Haas evokes the grand tradition of American landscape
photography while working in the cutting-edge technologies of 21st
century, as a book, Forcing Nature literally has two distinct sides as
well. The handsome volume is designed so that the reader may start
on one side and page through the color plates in a horizontal format,
or turn it around and follow the black & white images in a vertical
format. The photographs are further illuminated by penetrating essays
by Arty Nelson, Carolyn Peters, James McCourt, and Haas himself.
Forcing Nature is a testament to Haas as a photographer, but also as
an architect, visionary, prankster, ecologist, and, in his method of
reproduction, something of an alchemist. The reader will surely come
away looking at the familiar and not merely seeing it.
George Haas’s photographs have appeared in exhibitions around the
country, and his photos and written work have appeared in many
publications, including The New York Times. His stage work has been
performed nationally, including No Entiendes and Doris and Inez
Speak the Truth. He also wrote and directed the feature film Friends
and Lovers. Haas lives in Los Angeles.
FORCING NATURE
Trees in Los Angeles
By George Haas
A Vincent Virga Book/Bunker Hill Publishing
December 2006
$35.00/hardcover - 11 X 14 ins. – 96 pages
40 color plates/40 black & white plates
ISBN: 1593730500
