Richmond 61 1975

Carl Chiarenza made this gelatin silver print, Richmond 61, at some point in his career. The image is almost entirely black and white, with vertical lines and some roundish shapes. I can imagine Chiarenza in the darkroom, coaxing the image out of the chemicals. There's a real physicality to photography, the way you manipulate the materials, dodging and burning to bring out certain details. Is that wood? It looks like a close-up of a weathered fence, or maybe even a decaying structure. And those round shapes—are they rocks, or perhaps even eyes staring out from the darkness? There’s something gothic about this image, almost like an illustration from a scary children's book. Chiarenza's work often explores abstraction and representation, and in this piece, he seems to be pushing the boundaries of both. It reminds me of some of Aaron Siskind's later work, where he found these incredible abstract forms in the urban landscape. Maybe all artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. There are no fixed or definitive readings here.