Patti Hallock depicts the West in her bright color photographs, but hers is not the romanticized, awe- inspiring vision of Ansel Adams or Albert Bierstadt.
Instead, Hallock, who is featured in a solo exhibition running through April 9 at Plus Gallery, 2501 Larimer St., offers a quirky, kitschy view of this vast region that looks more to its faded past than any kind of upbeat future.
Rather than snowcapped peaks or noble cowboys, Hallock focuses on a stack of old bicycles near Rapid City, S.D., an oddly isolated fire hydrant in an open desert landscape near Santa Fe, a crumbling ice house along Highway 120 in Wyoming
While these images are not exactly critical or pessmistic, they are nonetheless the open-eyed product of someone living in the 21st century, who understands the sometimes ugly side-effects that have come with the habitation and exploitation of the West.
Thirty of Hallock’s images, along with a larger, multipanel wall installation, are included this show, which is part of Denver’s Month of Photography. Noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Free. 303-296-0927 or . Kyle MacMillan
