We have just returned from Sarasota where we had the very good fortune of seeing Herb Ritts: L.A. Style at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, its final destination after shows last year at the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Cincinnati Art Museum. The exhibition focuses on Ritts’ work in fashion, celebrity and nude portraiture and also includes iconic music videos he directed such as Madonna’s “Cherish” from 1989. Supermodels, gorgeous bodies, beautiful clothing, popular culture. His photographs are remarkably powerful in person — so much about form and light and very uniquely California. We are convinced that the ONLY way to revisit the 1980s and 90s is through the lens of the great Herb Ritts, lost far too soon to AIDS at age 50 in 2002.

Herb Ritts: L.A. Style is on view through May 19. www.ringling.org