Prairiescapes: Photographs

Kanfer's atmospheric photographs evoke the quiet drama of Midwest prairies, the immensity of skies and cornfields, the poetry of changing seasons, moods, twilights, textures. At his most cloying, his work is picture-postcard pretty, but his terrific shots are poignantly, unexpectedly beautifula row of fence posts, dried flowers hanging on a peeling blue cupboard door, a weather-beaten house all become transcendent visions. In Tornado Watch, the sky is an energy-field of pure potentiality. Almost no people inhabit these landscapes, yet the interplay of the elements somehow suggests the human resilience that helps people survive the loneliness inbred in the prairies' vast distances. Kanfer works out of Champaign, Ill., and has exhibited widely. This album includes his eerie black-and-white photographs that resemble pencil sketches or pointillist paintings, a mirage-like commentary on his beloved Illinois landscape. (December)