Thomas Heinser at Gallery 16, San Francisco

In this series of aerial photographs by Thomas Heinser, man-made interventions (highways, runways) cut through the open landscapes. Sometimes a natural intervention, such as water, cuts across, but the effect is no less jarring and fraught with some implied intention. From this point of view (Blickwinkel), however, we are also guided toward that vanishing point where one ends and the other begins. These photographs, cleanly composed, verge on abstraction. Look closer, however, and Mr. Heinser’s other point of view comes through. Tender nuances of wind-blown grass (which looks like animal pelt), the cheerful roundness of treetops, and the shadows of hills enrich and make the landscape familiar again.

Thomas Heinser, Blickwinkel 2, Gallery 16, San Francisco, through 31 October 2013.