Continuing through April 23, 2016
Best known for his photographs of the American West, in this new body of work Robert Adams primarily focuses his lens on his own house and its surroundings. The show features 66 works — 51 from the "Around the House” series — all black and white. But that’s where much of the similarity ends. Adams shows his versatility with figurative shots of his wife Kerstin, landscapes, skyscapes, still lifes, interiors and exteriors taken in evening and in daylight. Most striking is his prodigious talent working with light, be it subtle or dramatic, natural or by flash, shadowy or high contrast. Many of the works have a painterly feel, and the compositions and tones are frequently conceived in abstract formal terms.
Notable is one of the "Around the House" works of the front of Adams’ house at dusk. The façade displays four windows, two upstairs, two down, in roughly a grid. The upper right and lower left are lit from within. The image brings to mind the painting of Hans Hofmann. Completely different are shots of foliage in clear glass vases, delicate and featuring shades of grey mid-tones that denote an ethereal feeling. Several shots of decorative arrangements in the house — sculptures, woodcuts, dried flora, books — are arranged just so, clean and calming. Frank’s interest also turns to workspaces and lifestyle shots: hands holding a book up under a lamp, Kerstin sitting in the yard or in the kitchen, a partially eaten pie. Rounding out the series are a selection of complex and captivating images of clouds as well as denser, darker images of the outdoor foliage. We can readily draw connections between the aesthetic Adams surrounds himself with and that of his work: calm, peaceful, thoughtful. Art replicating life, life replicating art.
