…..chosen by Ross Bleckner, a painter known for canvases that hover between abstraction and representation, display an ethereal quality similar to his own, except in photographs rather than paint. Mr. Bleckner’s “Separated by a Curtain,” from 2010, is a large canvas with fuzzy concentric circles reminiscent of an iris and pupil. The three images from Renate Aller’s series “Oceanscapes — One View: 1999 to Present,” from 2009, are similarly spectral and evocative, with swirling masses of clouds dwarfing the slivers of sea at the bottom of the photographs…..
Martha Schwendener, The New York Times – September 25, 2011
“In a love letter to Long Island, she returned, each year for 10 years, to the same spot on the beach. There, she trained her camera out to sea, capturing grand images of sky and water. Eleven prints on view at Adamson Gallery testify to her devotion. Aller treads familiar territory — you can’t help but think of Vija Celmins and Hiroshi Sugimoto — but her results are often remarkable. The sliver of ocean at the bottom of a fall 2006 picture looks like crinkled tinfoil. In spring 2007, Aller captured a wave licking the ocean’s surface like a cat’s tongue….”
Jessica Dawson, The Washington Post – September 24, 2010
“This German photographer’s large-scale seascapes are all taken from the same location on Westhampton Beach, but they range from minimalist studies to dramatic views of storm Clouds and glistening water. Richard Misrach’s unabashedly gorgeous panoramic vistas of San Francisco Bay, also shot from the same spot each time, would seem to be the model here. Hiroshi Sugimoto ’s photos of sea and sky provide a more rigorous template, one that Aller honors but softens, primarily through her subtle use of color. There are no blazing sunsets here, only shades of blue, white, and gray – a cool, chic version of the rainbow.
Vince Aletti, The New Yorker – December 15, 2008
“…There are obvious similarities to Hiroshi Sugimoto ’s photographs and Mark Rothko ’s division of space, but Aller manages to avoid being derivative with hypnotically beautiful combinations of light and texture that meld abstraction with representation in arresting yet simple compositions…”
Nord Wennerstrom, ARTFORUM, Critic’s Choice – June, 2006
Recent Museum Acquisitions
New Britain Museum of American Art
New Britain, CT
New Mexico Museum of Art
Santa Fe, N.M., USA
Chazen Museum of Art
Madison, WI
George Eastman House
International Museum of Photography and Film
Rochester, NY, USA
Hamburger Kunsthalle
Hamburg, Germany
Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, CT, USA
(from the Nancy and Robinson Grover art collection)