Lewis Baltz at the Art Institute of Chicago

Published in Time Out Chicago / Issue 293 : Oct 7–13, 2010 

Early in his career, Lewis Baltz commented on the bland architecture that went viral in mid-20th-century America. So did the other photographers in the seminal 1975 exhibition “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape.” Though the 65-year-old artist is still best known as a New Topographics photographer, this show situates his work within Minimalism. Juxtaposing Baltz’s “Prototypes” series (c. 1967–73) with Richard Serra’s stark drawing St. Louis III (1982) and Sol LeWitt’s monumental 1977 sculpture Nine-part Modular Cube highlights the sculptural qualities of the photos’ compositions.

Like LeWitt and Serra, Baltz sees the world as a series of interconnected surfaces and shapes, and he reflects that in his work by playing with his photos’ frames and contrasts between light and dark. In Houston A and Houston B (both 1972), he creates triptychs out of the blank side of a stucco building, merely by dialing the gray tones in the photos up or down. In other “Prototypes,” the photographer lets gutters form vertical borders. The lines of Serra’s drawing echo the narrow strip of asphalt or sidewalk that Baltz, curiously, allows to peek above the bottom edges of his photos.

While this exhibition demonstrates that symmetry, shape and color are as important as social commentary in Baltz’s work, his 1992 Ronde de Nuit fails to balance these elements as beautifully as “Prototypes.” The piece’s 12 monumental color photographs—negatives of computer cables and screenshots from surveillance cameras—feel more frenzied and claustrophobic than anonymous and imposing.

- CW