The Hollywood Suites (Windows) #15 1976

Curator: Standing before us is Steve Kahn's photographic work, "The Hollywood Suites (Windows) #15," created in 1976. Editor: It strikes me immediately as melancholic. Those two windows side-by-side, but one seemingly intact while the other…ravaged. There’s such a stark contrast; it’s quite unnerving. Curator: Kahn, during that period, was deeply invested in exploring architectural facades, especially in Hollywood. His focus on urban surfaces offers social commentary that can get quite…abrasive. Editor: Absolutely. The materials, the sheer fact it’s a photograph focusing on peeling paint and maybe broken glass– the image refuses idealization. It points instead to the grit, the labor, and inevitable decay of structures, like so many of Hollywood’s promises, perhaps? Curator: Yes, consider the implications of capturing those elements. It moves past conventional street photography that romanticizes, it is about textures but the story they convey through deterioration. There's an honesty, if brutal at times, in exposing urban erosion, don’t you think? Editor: Undeniably, and the choice of black and white strengthens that, stripping away distraction and highlighting texture and light. We see only what matters: construction and deconstruction—simultaneously! Curator: Moreover, this almost forces us to become archaeological investigators…the social commentary in his art can be viewed as almost scientific in this method. You look and the city speaks! Editor: Precisely. Through Kahn's lens, we don't see simple photographs; rather evidence of making. There's real labor reflected back onto labor-- Steve Kahn out there documenting structures in labor and disrepair! Curator: Agreed, after diving into how these urban scenes mirror greater concepts of fleeting grandeur and social reflection…I will never glance casually at city windows again! Editor: Exactly! Here we witness, literally, material realities made profoundly, almost poetically, visible. It speaks to me far beyond any initial impression.