Highway#1, Intersection 105&110, Los Angeles, California, Edward Burtynsky

 

It turned out to be an apocalyptic afternoon, first a gripping dystopian movie shot in Glasgow...

And then this dazzling exhibition by Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky in the newly-renovated Photographers' Gallery that offers pigeon's eye views over the grey, dystopian roofscape of Oxford Street.

His photographs are about oil, 'that flows like blood in our veins'; apocalyptic landscapes, highways hurtling towards celestial cities in the desert, a rainbow shimmering over an oil spillage.

They are more beautiful than you can imagine. They made me think of Richard Dadd's visions of hell, of Georgia O'Keeffe's bleached desert, of Turner sunsets, of Richard Serra, Mondrian, Dan Flavin and even Marcel Broodthaers. A 5* exhibition that's free to get in.