The Hollywood Suites (Bound Doors) #7 1976

This gelatin silver print by Steve Kahn presents a set of open doors, sealed with a kind of starburst cat’s cradle. I can only imagine Kahn in his studio, carefully winding the string to create this web, maybe humming to himself. The monochrome palette lends a stark feel, while the strings create a geometry of lines that dance across the surface. They almost seem to vibrate. I wonder about the symbolic significance of this bounded door. Is Kahn trapping something inside, or keeping something out? Or is he thinking about Jasper Johns? Kahn's work often plays with the viewer's perception, challenging us to look beyond the obvious, and this image is no exception. Like other photographers such as Uta Barth or James Welling, Kahn explores the photographic medium in a pictorial way. In the end, it’s all about artists talking to artists through their work.