THE WEST itself seems to be the star of current gallery offerings west of the Mississippi, from Carleton Watkins at the Getty to Elger Esser at Rose Gallery to Hollywood film stills at the David Gallery. Elsewhere, the landscape is viewed from above by Richard Misrach at Seattle's Henry Art Gallery and by Yiorgos Kordakis at M+B. Bill Owens' California suburbs still provoke double takes, at PDNB in Dallas, while back in the Golden State, Paul Kopeikin inagurates his new West Hollywood gallery with J. Bennett Fitts' ode to suburban industrial parks. Please check websites for information.

Left to right: Cutting Wharf I, copyright Elger Esser, courtesy of Rose Gallery; Pine Trees, copyright J. Bennett Fitts, courtesy of Kopeikin Gallery; Cape Horn, Columbia River, Oregon, 1867, by Carleton Watkins, courtesy of The National Gallery of Art.

LOS ANGELES, CA
J. Bennett Fitts: Industrial Landscape[ing]
Bas Louter: Dust
Kopeikin Gallery
January 20 - February 14, 2009
Opening reception: January 31, 6:00 - 9:00 pm

Joseph Sterling: Age of Adolescence
M+B Gallery
January 31 - March 7, 2009
Opening reception: January 31, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Note: Yiorgos Kordakis - Global Summer continues through January 24^th

Made in Culver City: Film Stills
David Gallery
Through January 17th

Holly Andres: Sparrow Lane
DNJ Gallery
Through February 14^th

Dan Graham: Beyond
Museum of Contemporary Art, Grand Avenue
February 15 - May 25, 2009
Note: Louise Bourgeois continues through January 25th

Todd Walker: A Legacy of Images
Stephen Cohen Gallery
Through February 21, 2009

Dialogue Among Giants: Carleton Watkins and the Rise of Photography in California
Getty Center
Through March 1^st

Vanity Fair Portraits, 1913 - 2008
LA County Museum of Art
Through March 1st

SANTA MONICA, CA
Photo L.A. / Barker Hangar, 3021 Airport Ave.
January 9 - 11, 2009

John Divola: Dark Star and Two Angry Rabbits in a Closet
Gallery Luisotti
January 17 - March 7, 2009

Elger Esser: Six American Sunsets
Rose Gallery
Through February 7th

SAN DIEGO, CA
Lou Stouman: The Naked Truth
Museum of Photographic Arts
January 31 - May 17, 2009
Note: Nancy Newhall, A Literacy of Images continues through January 25th

LA JOLLA, CA
Beth Dow: In the Garden
Joseph Bellows Gallery
January 23 - March 7, 2009
Opening reception: January 23, 5:00 - 8:00 pm

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Richard Misrach: New Work
Fraenkel Gallery
January 8 - February 28, 2009
Opening reception: January 8, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Binh Danh: In the Eclipse of Angkor, Tuol Sleng, Choeung EK, and Khmer Temples
Haines Gallery
January 8 - February 28, 2009
Opening Reception: January 8, 2009, 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Kiichi Asano: Snow Country
Scott Nichols Gallery
January 8 - February 28, 2009

United in Nima: Photographs by Bay Aarea Ghanian Youth
SF Camerawork
January 8 - March 29, 2009
Opening Reception: January 8, 5:00 - 8:00 pm

Melanie Pullen: Violent Times
Stephen Wirtz Gallery
January 8 - February 28, 2009

The Face of Our Time featuring work by Yto Barrada, Judith Joy Ross, Leo Rubinfien, Guy Tillim
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
January 31 - April 26, 2009

Michael Wolf: The Transparent City
Robert Koch Gallery
Through January 31, 2009

Complicity: Contemporary Photography and the Matter of Sculpture
Rena Brandsten Gallery
January 15 - February 21, 2009

SEATTLE/TACOMA, WA
20/20: Group Show featuring work by Diane Arbus, Hector Acebes, Ansel Adams, Ruth Bernhard, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Wynn Bullock, Walker Evans, Imogen Cunningham, Yousuf Karsh, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Ruth Orkin, Aaron Siskind, Brett Weston, Minor White, and Marion Post Wolcott.
G. Gibson Gallery
January 15 - February 28, 2009
Artist reception: February 5, 6 - 8 pm
Note: Michael Kenna has been extended through January 10^th

Richard Misrach: On the Beach
Henry Art Gallery
Through January 18, 2009

New Directions '09: Artists, Ideas, Photographs
Wall Space Gallery
Through February 7, 2009
Artist reception: February 5, 6 - 8 pm

PORTLAND, OR
Wayne F. Miller: Photographs 1942-1958
Charles A. Hartman Fine Art
January 7 - February 21, 2009
Opening reception: Please contact gallery

Tony Mendoza: Flowers & Bob
Brad Temkin: Relics
Blue Sky Gallery
Through February 1^st

NWx4: New Northwest Photography, featuring work by Liz Haley, Andrew O'Brien, Alexis Pike, and Mark Searcy
Quality Pictures
Through March 3 2009
Opening reception: January 8, 6 - 9 pm

TUCSON, AZ
Oh l'amour: Contemporary Photography from the Stephane Janssen Collection
Center for Creative Photography
Through March 8^th

PHOENIX, AZ
Odyssey: The Photographs of Linda Connor
Phoenix Art Museum
Through March 8th

DENVER, CO
Jan Hammond: Photographs
Museum of Contemporary Art
Through February 8th

DALLAS, TX
Bill Owens: New Suburbia
Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery
Through February 21st

NEW ORLEANS, LA
Cajun Document, 1974: Photographs by Charles H. Traub and Douglas Baz
The Historic New Orleans Collection
Through February 20th

MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Masterpiece Photographs: The Curatorial Legacy of Carroll T. Hartwell
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Through January 25th