Art, in its many forms and manners can truly reach across medias to deliver and entertain and educate. Witness the massive Van Gogh exhibition currently at the National Gallery. Ignored by his peers, Vincent has reached a zenith of recognition and fame and adulation which now makes people, some of which are otherwise uninterested in art, trek to the nation's capital to view the unfortunate Dutchman's paintings.

The huge vast majority of these visitors will never set foot in a modern gallery, and this is quite a shame, because the District has a diverse variety of high quality shows on exhibition this month.

Photographer Ruth Robertson leads the pack with two solid shows which she has curated and which hang through most of October. At the District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC) she has organized, together with the National Latina Women's Council an exhibit of work by various Latin American artists titled "Encounters and Traditions." This is an annual exhibit which began five years ago alogside National Hispanic Month and seeks to bring together DC-area artists of all races within the Latino community of the city. Of the seven artists chosen, I liked the work of Suzanne Lago, but my favorite by far was the work of Cuban born artist Pedro Ortiz. His mastery over the brush and theme deliver works which are almost iconic in presentation and theme. Across the city at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Georgetown, Robertson has chosen a few photographers, including her own work, to present a show which pushes the boundaries of photography by presenting it in manners and media not usually associated with this darkroom art. Her own work leads the charge and as always, there exists a thinly veiled sense of sensuality in Robertson's work. She presents her B&W photographs as part of an altar piece, constructed by a intricate incorporation of the images withn furniture and wall pieces. Using DC artist Perrault Daniels as one of the models, and a voluptous female as the other, she creates an impish scenario in the main piece, which delivers with power, creativity and a subtle sense of fun.

At Alla Rogers, also in Georgetown, Russian photographer Tatiana Palnitska has an exhibit titled "Natura Vita" which debuts her new B&W work in the D.C. area. Palnitska is a hugely talented photographer who is also a skilled dark room technician. Her work starts with extensive preparations of the background materials -- these are the subjects she constructs and then photographs. Using tape, she prepares an assemblage of (for example) flowers, textures and other materials to put together an oddly fantastical scenario, which when photographed deliver highly interesting images which quiz our understanding of her artificial worlds. One can imagine her dexterous fingers putting these new realities together and her fantasies coming alive on a sometimes bleak tableau. She has in fact created new realities, boosting our own imaginative powers to her brooding Russian imagery.