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Stéphane Couturier's "Landscaping" series depicts housing developments being built on the outskirts of San Diego and Tijuana. As can be seen in Proctor Valley, San Diego, his formal approach highlights the landscape’s striking aesthetic qualities. Often expunged of their horizons, the landscapes in the process of transformation display a fascinating palette and patterning not usually found in nature. The series also critically addresses suburban sprawl. Couturier emphasizes the manipulation of nature in these soon-to-be suburban settings. Framed by arid hills, lush, green oases are being carefully fabricated for housing developments. Some photos reveal sod carpeting the desert floor or freshly planted saplings marshaled into orderly rows; this photo shows earth that has been painted green with dye in anticipation of a verdant future, lending a disturbing irony to the notion of a "painted desert."