Where to Go and What to See

It's too bad the Edwynn Houk and Morgan Lehman galleries are so far apart—their main exhibits nicely complement each other. Both Polidori and Allee use repeating patterns and long depth of field to capture the strange beauty of urban landscapes. Polidori's Chernobyl work, from 2001, comprises mostly indoor shots of the doomed reactor as well as the buildings near it that had to be abandoned after the 1986 explosion and radioactive contamination. Allee's images are mostly outdoor ones, often where natural and man-made elements mingle in an ethereal mix of twilight and artificial light. And the grand scale and overpowering silence they share make them seem a little bit like two sides of the same coin.

Yancey Richardson Gallery makes it thankfully easy to do this kind of comparative gazing, with it's simultaneous opening of Chris Patterson's garish urban detail shots and Don Donaghy's similar work from a bygone era. Donaghy's black and whites of sour-faced women in fur and big hats should nicely complement Patterson's hot-pink palette and eye for absurdity.

Photography in New York

Oct. 26, 6-8
Robert Polidori: Chernobyl
Edwynn Houk Gallery
745 5th Ave. (btw 57 and 58)

Oct. 26, 6-8
David S. Allee: Cross Lands
Reception
Morgan Lehman Gallery
317 10th Ave. (btw 28 and 29)

Oct. 26, 6-8
Claus Dieter Geissler: Platinum prints
Opening reception
Fotosphere Gallery
511 W. 25th, #505

Oct. 27, 6-8
Christian Patterson: Sound Affects and Don Donaghy: Vintage Photographs
Opening reception
Yancey Richardson Gallery
535 W. 22nd St.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world...

Oct. 28, 4-6
Leonard Nimoy
Archer School for Girls
11725 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles

Oct. 28, 7-9
Ruby Satellite
California Museum of Photography
University of California Riverside
4824 Main St., Riverside, CA

(Photo: © Robert Polidori, "Classroom in Kindergarten #7, 2001"/Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery; © David S. Allee, "Stadium Light, Bronx, NY"/Courtesy Morgan Lehman Gallery)