When the closest youve been to wide-open spaces is little more than the nature screensaver montage that plays when your computer enters sleep mode, its time to unplug and step outside. Take root in the great outdoors and revisit the masters of American landscape with
Natural Affinities this week. The exhibit reunites two friends and American icons painter
Georgia OKeeffe and photographer
Ansel Adams with works that reflect the depth and complexities offered in the natural world. Forty OKeeffe paintings and 54 Adams photographs explore the anatomy of Americas sprawling, rugged mountains and deserts, especially in New Mexico where the two would brainstorm at OKeeffes Ghost Ranch.
It was Gertrude Steins belief that a rose is never simply a rose. In Adams photographs, the flower is a necessary accent to a sloping hillside, while in OKeeffes work, its a series of contoured lines and deeply contrasted colors that critics have deemed vulva-esque.
Natural Affinities runs now through May 3 at the Norton Museum of Art, found at 1451 S. Olive Ave. in West Palm Beach. Admission costs $12. Doors are open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Call 561-832-5196, or visit norton.org.
Jan. 28-May 3, 2009