Man vs. Nature at Hall Art by Elizabeth Michelman For Victorian critic John Ruskin, the “sublime” described an aesthetic experience of awe and magnificence accompanied by subjective and even violent emotion. Guest curator Joel Sternfeld, a photographer and videographer teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, re-visits this concept in “Landscapes After Ruskin,” selecting from over 6,000 works of post-World War II art in the collections of the Hall family and Hall Art Foundation. Quaintly staged in the buildings of a former Vermont dairy farm, the exhibition asks whether we can ever separate the human mark from nature. Its imagery challenges us to recognize a world outside that increasingly fails us as we fail it. Sternfeld favors digital and photographic imagery, painting, and drawing, with a smattering of sculptures, installations, and videos. Familiar German names — Joseph … [Read more...] about Redefining the Sublime