Photographer Jeffrey Milstein Presents "Aircraft: The Jet as Art"

Bau-Xi Gallery's Dufferin location (1384 Dufferin St.) presents Aircraft: The Jet as Art, an exhibition of photographs by Jeffrey Milstein, from October 8 to November 2, 2026. Admission is free.

Milstein's images are instantly recognizable once you have seen them. He photographs aircraft from directly below, head on or in perfect profile while they are still airborne on landing approach, often at close to 180 mph, then presents them as symmetrical, highly detailed portraits against a clean background. The result turns the airplane from a way to get somewhere into an object of design: you notice the rivets, the panels, the livery and the strange beauty of the shapes.

The project grew out of a lifelong obsession. Milstein grew up in Los Angeles loving art and airplanes, earned his pilot's licence on his seventeenth birthday and first photographed landing planes at the end of a runway in 1961. In 2000 he went back to the runway with a high-resolution camera, and the work that followed became the 2007 Abrams book Aircraft: The Jet as Art.

Spanning more than two decades, the show also works as a record of a changing era of aviation, including retired icons like the Boeing 747 and Concorde. It is an easy recommendation for aviation fans, design lovers and anyone who likes photography that rewards a close look.

Practical notes: the gallery is on Dufferin Street north of Dupont, served by the 29 Dufferin bus. Check Bau-Xi's site for gallery hours before you go. Works in the show are for sale, but browsing is free and the staff are happy to talk about the prints.