Joe Rosenthal

It’s not easy to define what makes some artworks resonate and others catch nary a glance. You could hang 100 relatively similar pieces on a wall, and a small fraction of those works—perhaps just one—would draw more people than the others. There’s an ineffable quality that makes them magnetic. It’s a “you know it when

Rodney Smith’s iconic photographs exert a gravitational pull. These are not images that rest quietly on walls. They beg to be looked at, pulling you in with their stunning technical perfection and evocations of exuberance, mystery, whimsy, heroism, and vulnerability. Whether Smith’s subjects were a couple clasping hands above a tiny blue Fiat in Amalfi,