Tilted/Straight

“He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity, he says “Amen” and “Hallelujah”
~ from “You Can Call Me Al” by Paul Simon

By Elin Spring

Architecture is art writ large. Have you looked upward recently? The buildings around us stand as monuments to society’s aspirations. Whether iconic, like Boston’s soaring Hancock Tower or its brutalist City Hall or some mundane, pragmatic construction, every building broadcasts the values and aesthetics of its cultural period. Like all artwork, architectural design is ripe for interpretation and invites new ways of looking at the world, from its exterior and interior. In a marvelous dual exhibition, “Tilted/Straight,” American historian and photographer, Fern L. Nesson and architect photographer Peter Vanderwarker probe and enlighten the ways we view our built environment. On view at Panopticon Gallery in Boston’s Kenmore Square through November 3rd, 2026.

Feature Image: “John Hancock” by Fern L. Nesson, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“Untitled” by Peter Vanderwarker, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“No Parking” by Fern L. Nesson, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“I’ll Fly Away” by Fern L. Nesson, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

Jazzy and dynamic, Fern L. Nesson’s (mostly) black and white images are magnetic visual puzzles. Each is a high-contrast, graphically potent composition that veers, skews or tilts with vertiginous energy. Partly guessing game, partly an orientation challenge, and each a pure pleasure, Nesson’s imagery is invigorating. She enjoins us to view the environment differently, reconstructing Boston’s rectilinear environment into animated frames of revelation and joy.

“Night in the City” by Fern L. Nesson, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“TILT!” by Fern L. Nesson, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“Untitled” by Peter Vanderwarker, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“Untitled” by Peter Vanderwarker, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

Peter Vanderwarker escalates Boston’s love affair with the Hancock Tower in his glistening, devout, and teasing tromp l’oeil photographs. Whether rocketing skyward over a miniaturized city below, popping windows during its contested construction, shimmering in abstraction, or cast majestically in a kaleidoscope of shifting skies, Vanderwarker’s photographs of the Hancock Tower are breathtaking visions. And beyond that, his expressions of perspective and scale inspire awe for the spiritual power of our loftiest forms of manmade art. There are angels in the architecture.

“Untitled” by Peter Vanderwarker, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

“Untitled” by Peter Vanderwarker, courtesy of the artist and Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

For more information about this exhibit, go to: https://www.panopticongallery.com/tilted-straight-fern-nesson-peter-vanderwarker