For example, Rittermann deliberately throws the foreground out of focus in his pictures to direct your attention to mid-ground and background elements.
In "Ventilator D 8," a shot of a Chula Vista greenhouse, a large ventilating fan mounted high on the building draws you in from across the room. Up close, however, it is not sharply in focus, causing you to look around and through the fan to get at the decaying building behind it.
"Cage With Noose" shows an enclosure of wood and cyclone fencing with a rope or cable tied in a noose hanging on it.
Perhaps Rittermann means that man is hanging himself, or strangling nature, with the misshapen objects he builds then abandons in the landscape.
In each group of four small prints, Fiskin focuses mostly on apartment buildings that would be nothing more than boxes, except for some twists. A group titled "Dingbat," for example, consists of buildings decorated with whimsical zig-zig stripes and other geometric patterns.
Architects will be especially interested in the work of James Welling, whose photos of buildings by 19th-Century architect H. H. Richardson reveal new power in the rusticated stone walls, towers and steep roofs.
The exhibit will be on display through Dec. 12. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Campus parking permits are available in the gallery.
