Ron Rosenstock

PHOTOGRAPHIC HOTNESS

By ANDREA MURRAY

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Iceland is a visually stunning destination. My Björk-obsessed roommate went there last year and now her room is Iceland themed. She went so far as to name our wireless internet network "stevesdottir," which is her Icelandic last name. Ron Rosenstock's Fire and Ice, showing at the Panopticon Gallery, juxtaposes landscape photographs of Iceland and Death Valley, Calif, contrasting the fiery hottness of Death Valley with the iciness of dreamy Iceland. For four decades Rosenstock created black and white photography the same way Ansel Adams did: with Adam's' own Zone System. He decided to give it a go for his first significant exploration of color photography. But he one-upped himself: All of the photographs are digital. Photographer B.A. King knows that even with all of this fancy-schmancy new technology, Rosenstock is still the same. "Underneath it all," he says, "is the famous Rosenstock flare for composition and reverence for light, to which we now can add an admiration for color." Rosenstock's Death Valley photos bring geometric style to organic matter like sand dunes and canyons, while his Iceland photos capture breathtaking views of water in various states with land nearby, sometimes with rainbows and kittens. OK, no kittens.

[Fire and Ice. 6.12.08-7.28.08. Opening Reception Thurs 6.19.08, 5pm-7pm. Gallery hours Tue-Fri 10am-6pm and Sat 11am-5pm. The Panopticon Gallery at the Hotel Commonwealth. Room 502c, Commonwealth Ave., Boston. 617.267.8929. panopt.com]