New York Skyline in a Lobby, N.Y.C. 1971

Diane Arbus made this photograph, "New York Skyline in a Lobby, N.Y.C.," without a specified date, and it's a moody, layered thing. It’s about how we frame our world, literally. The photograph has this almost ghostly quality, a sense of seeing one thing through another. The way the light catches the surface, it's like she’s painting with light, revealing and concealing at the same time. The skyline itself, distant and grand, is juxtaposed with the intimate, almost claustrophobic foreground of a lobby. The lamp, with its warm glow, sits as a focal point amidst the cityscape backdrop. It's such an odd and unsettling juxtaposition. Arbus, like a lot of artists, including me, was interested in peeling back the layers of what we think is real, to find the strange beauty underneath. It reminds me of Eugène Atget, who also wandered through the city, capturing the poetry of everyday life. It's a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation.