Ulrich Gebert’s darkly humorous photographic works explore humanity’s relationship with the natural world, particularly the urge to contain and dominate animals. In “Negotiated Order,” a series of mixed-media works featuring found photographs from the early 20th century of humans subordinating animals (such as scenes of circus performers and animal trainers), Gebert erases the images of animals so that only humans remain, making them look absurd. Gebert sets the photographs, decentered, into the surfaces of small monochrome gray and tan paintings. “The ‘Negotiated Order’ pieces are like an allegory for me,” he has said, “where the reason of interaction—the counterpoint—is no longer present and the will to subordinate and control is somewhat overemphasized to a point where it becomes ridiculous.” Gebert’s “Typus” series (2005) consists of photographs of coniferous trees and shrubs in …