Working in a seemingly scattershot style most closely identified with Alec Soth, Halpern combines photographic portraits, landscapes, and still-lifes, both large and small, in an exhibition that focusses on the Rust Belt as a prime example of the sorry state of the Union. The sense of disillusionment is underscored by images of physical decay: houses collapsing or, in once instance, on fire, while aluminum siding melts into smoke. Halpern also has a sharp eye for incidental beauty and saving grace, as seen in pictures of a shard of glass glinting in the dirt and of trash burning on an embankment at dusk, one ember lifted into the air, like a flaming planet. Through Feb. 11. (ClampArt, 531 W. 25th St. 646-230-0020.)
— Vince Aletti, January 30, 2012