Washington City Paper
Arts & Entertainment : Picks
By Louis Jacobson
Returning to the same location to make multiple works of art is a time-honored tradition, going back at least to Monet. So too is the theme of chronicling the bare horizon line between sea and sky, an approach that runs directly from Gustave Le Gray to Hiroshi Sugimoto. Renate Aller’s work takes both of these approaches, and it’ s to her credit that they seem much fresher than one might think. Since 1999, Aller has been photographing the sea and sky from the same point on the southern Long Island shore. In her 11-image exhibit, “One View—Ten Years,” Aller presents a wide range of hyper-real portrayals of this distinctly elemental view. The colors range from pastel to murky, the textures from puffy to muddy. Sometimes her images evoke the clouds of Georgia O’ Keeffe, the abstract zips of Barnett Newman, and the hill ridges of a western landscape. Her accompanying book benefits from an even wider array of images than the show, solidifying the conclusion that the substance of Aller’ s works is as impressive as her THE EXHIBITION IS ON VIEW 11:30 A.M. TO 5 P.M. TUESDAY TO FRIDAY, AND NOON TO 5 P.M. SATURDAY TO OCT. 23 AT ADAMSON GALLERY, 1515 14TH ST. NW. FREE. (202) 232-0707.