Like Fricker, like son

Like the farmers markets in the summertime, this month there is a bountiful variety of art in the region’s galleries. If you think that’s a cheesy simile, well, the markets will have cheese, as will some galleries this month, though the latter might be displaying theirs on their walls.

Snark aside, one curdless collection of photographic work is by father and son, Geoff Fricker Sr. and Geoff Fricker at the Tsao Gallery in Davis. Fricker the elder’s images are scenes of 1960s South India, where, at the time, he was working as a radiologist for the Christian Medical College & Hospital, and are fascinating glimpses of a land and time far from here.

Fricker the younger not only inherited his father’s name but an interest in photography as well. “Most of my photos are about water as a cultural reflection; they reflect a tradition of using water as a resource, sanctuary and playground,” he says. His documentation of the watershed in Northern California has garnered him attention from major museums (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) and grants (National Endowment for the Arts), and for good reason: They are stunning and important images that he hopes can highlight “the need for sustainable models of water and land use.” That’s no cheese.