Atlantic City

Richard Gordon made this black and white photograph, Atlantic City, at an unknown date. The photographic process, much like painting, involves a series of choices, each affecting the final image we see. In this picture, there's a compelling interplay between what's visible and what's hidden. The iron bars create a rigid, repetitive pattern, a grid that both reveals and conceals. Squinting, my eye is drawn to the hazy form of the Statue of Liberty, like a ghost trapped in a machine. This grid-like structure, with its starkness, is echoed in the work of Sol LeWitt, known for his minimalist and conceptual art. There is something so compelling about the way it embodies the process of seeing. It challenges us to look closer, to peel back the layers of perception and question what we think we know.