WASHINGTON, DC.- “In Plane View,” an exhibition of 56 large-format photographs by Carolyn Russo showcasing the aesthetic quality of some of the National Air and Space Museum’s iconic aircraft, will be on display March 21, 2008 through Jan. 2, 2009. With close-up facets, sculptural forms and life-like elements, “In Plane View” directs viewers’ attention to the often-overlooked simple elegance of aircraft design. Russo exposes the bold colors, textures, shapes and patterns that characterize diverse flying machines and, with her lens, transforms technology into art.

“Carolyn Russo has managed to take the overall beauty I see in airplanes –and spacecraft and other artifacts of flight—and frame their art in pieces rather than as whole subjects,” said Patty Wagstaff, three-time National Aerobatic Champion, in her foreword to the exhibit’s accompanying book. “It’s an abstract approach that gives new life even to the most familiar icon.”

The exhibit is divided into five categories—Speed, Bursts, Movement; Flora, Fauna and Anthropomorphism; Graphics; Textures and Skin; and Propellers—which occasionally overlap. Russo’s photographs reveal different layers of meaning through their unconventional representations of well-known air- and spacecraft. In combination with quotes from pioneers, pilots, poets and other artists whose words resonate with these images, Russo’s work evokes the beauty, wonder, excitement and thrill associated with flight. A companion book with an introduction and essays by art historian Anne Collins Goodyear and foreword by Wagstaff is available from powerHouse Books.

The exhibit will tour after the premiere at the National Air and Space Museum.

Among the featured artifacts are the following:

Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis
Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird
Lockheed 5B Vega
Mercury Friendship 7
Space Shuttle Enterprise
Extra 260
Northrop Gamma Polar Star
Langley Aerodrome A
Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia
Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay
Boeing 307 Stratoliner Clipper Flying Cloud
1903 Wright Flyer
Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis

The “In Plane View” exhibit was made possible with generous in-kind donations from Epson USA Inc., The National Museum of the Marine Corps, Smithsonian Affiliations, Bogen Imaging Inc. and a grant from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.