Winter, northwest across dunes and tidal marsh inside the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon 1990

Robert Adams made this gelatin silver print, "Winter, northwest across dunes and tidal marsh inside the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon", and the description alone is a kind of poem. Look at how Adams coaxes so many shades from grey; it’s almost as if he’s painting with light, building up layers of tone like a painter might with glazes. There's a real tactility here, a deep awareness of surface, and that band of dark just above the horizon divides the image into distinct registers. That dark area makes me think of the horizon lines in the work of Agnes Martin, another artist using landscape to explore inner space. The way the clouds gather and break feels so alive, like the sky is breathing. It makes you want to take a deep breath yourself, doesn't it? I think this work is a reminder that art can be found in the quietest of places, in the most subtle of gestures. Like a conversation, it keeps evolving.