Untitled (Santa Rosa, California) c. 1980s

Curator: This is Bill Dane's Untitled (Santa Rosa, California). I’m immediately drawn to the composition. The strong verticals and horizontals. The contrast between the rough stone and the smooth fabric. Editor: It feels staged, like a theater backdrop. I wonder about the materials used to create this scene—the types of stone, the specific fabric. What were the economic conditions allowing for such artifice? Curator: Yes! It could be read as a comment on artificiality and constructed realities. Note the tonal range and subtle gradations of light across the varied surfaces. Editor: It's that tonal range that's critical. Where was this backdrop used? Was Dane making commentary on the artifice, perhaps labor to build this fantasy? Curator: The image poses more questions than it answers, doesn't it? It leaves us to consider the artifice inherent in image-making itself. Editor: Indeed. It’s a stark reminder that even the most seemingly "real" photograph is, in fact, a carefully constructed fabrication of labor.