Alex Van Gelder at Cheim & Read

Alex Van Gelder, Untitled, 2012, Platinum Palladium hand coated print on Van Gelder 100% cotton paper.
Alex Van Gelder, Untitled, 2012, Platinum Palladium hand coated print on Van Gelder 100% cotton paper.

They’re not exactly light summer fare, but Alex Van Gelder’s photos of gravestone, mausoleum and family tomb portraits are a visually stunning showcase of the effects of aging on pictures.  Cracked and deteriorated, images like this untitled portrait are no longer about solemn memorials; now they demonstrate the aesthetic effects of disintegration, as if the hand of time wielded Photoshop for its own pleasure.  (On view at Cheim & Read through Sept 8th.)