John Gossage: The Pond

Where: Smithsonian American Art Museum

When: until January 17, 2011

I suspect everyone will have a slightly different reaction to this set of photographs. Mine was, "let's clean this up!" I thought there was real beauty in this unimproved bit of nature, a pond somewhere between D.C. and the Eastern Shore. I also thought it was a shame people have been using it as a garbage dump for many years. I'm not suggesting that it should be beautified, or gentrified, or made into yet another piece of cookie-cutter suburban perfection. I'd just like it to not function as a place for people to toss their refuse.

The exhibit is a series of photographs of Gossage's trip to the pond, and is meant to be viewed in order, from start to finish. That would be easier if the museum had labeled the pictures in some way; as it is, I spent a good bit of time making sure I was looking at the right photo at the right time. I also found I rushed through, eager to get to the end, so I took some time to go back and look at the photos again. The viewer with lots of time could easily spend hours and not see everything in every photo, but the lunch hour viewer will get lots from this show as well.

At the end of the exhibit are photos of houses (I think they're in northern Virginia), and although in a way they're sort of tacked-on to the pond shots, they do belong in a way. They show a modest, but perfectly nice neighborhood (the photos were taken in the early 1908s, so I guess those starter homes are worth $500,000 now). There are plenty of imperfections in the houses: a boarded up window in one, and some irregularities in the sidewalk in front of another, but to me, they showed how humanity can live with both order and a bit of chaos. There is a kind of beauty in the rustic, but not if the garbage dominates the scene.

Verdict: Well worth a visit - it would be interesting to know what the pond looks like now - some 25 years later.