Matt Shallenberger approaches his photographic subjects—most often landscapes—as a cartographer approaches a new territory. As he discovers information by following the sight lines of mountains, rivers, boundaries, horizons, and the ever-changing position of the sun or the moon, he always takes into account the history and prior records of his subjects. While he works consistently with darkened, blissfully moody vistas, Shallenberger’s research into his subjects[…..]

From our partners at Art Practical, today we bring you a review of Sarah Christianson‘s When the Landscape Is Quiet Again: North Dakota’s Oil Boom at SF Camerawork. Author Larissa Archer notes, “Christianson doesn’t try to appeal to emotions with her photographs. They encourage a process by which the viewer mentally forms a bridge between the damning information about the subjects (here, provided by the captions) and the[…..]

In Art, I am generally not a fan of beautiful landscapes. That is not to say that I do not appreciate the inherent splendor of nature, it just always seems too picturesque and subsequently too easy.  The source of my aversion is popular visual culture’s inundation of images showing over-saturated suns rising or setting, paths and docks receding into the distance, and natural monuments impressing[…..]

Painting has long offered codes for interpreting landscape, and from it a perspective on our place in the world. Claude Monet’s series of haystacks, bridges and the Rouen cathedral give us landscape as a clock, an unfolding of the hours of the day and time spent looking, comparing, recording and looking again. Monet had the luck to be surrounded by gardens and fields, but how[…..]

Due to several recent shows on the subject, I have lately been pondering the enduring yet amorphous allure of landscape in photography.  Among the exhibitions currently on view, Pictura Gallery’s exhibition of photographs by Adam Thorman and Laura Plageman offers an especially engaging encounter with the genre. Displayed on opposite sides of the bisected space, each artist’s series—Thorman’s What Light Remains in the Absence and[…..]

A visually compelling, conceptually provocative consideration of the photographic medium, American View:  Landscape Photography 1865 to Now is anything but the kind of straightforward overview such a title suggests.  Showcasing works drawn primarily from the Rhode Island School of Design’s rich photography collection, American View shifts deftly between and among periods and styles and, in so doing, illuminates the ever-evolving relationship between landscape and photographic image. Upon entering the[…..]

As part of our ongoing partnership with Art Practical, Daily Serving is sharing Bean Gilsdorf’s article on Alice Shaw’s Landscape Update, at Gallery 16 in San Francisco. The profusion of works and materials in Alice Shaw’s Landscape Update at Gallery 16 leaves viewers with the impression of a frenzy. The twenty-six works on view are made from an exhaustive array of media: paintings of oil and[…..]