Untitled 1971

Curator: Larry Clark’s “Untitled” photograph, taken in 1971, presents a seemingly ordinary scene – the façade of a house. Editor: My first impression? It's eerily still, almost haunted. The stark black and white emphasizes the geometry of the house, especially that elaborate lattice work on the porch. Curator: That geometry is key. Clark, known for his gritty portrayals of youth subcultures, here shifts his lens to the built environment. This gelatin silver print, with its grainy texture, highlights the process of photographic reproduction. It draws our attention to how the image itself is constructed, akin to how houses are constructed from mass produced building supplies. Editor: Constructed is the right word. There's a feeling that this house is just a facade, all surface and no depth. Is Clark suggesting something about the American dream? About suburban alienation? I can feel that lurking in the shadows in this photograph. Curator: Perhaps. Look at the repetitive, almost sterile nature of the lattice and how the details sort of obscure instead of clarify what this could be hiding on the porch of this structure. Think about the social and economic conditions that made suburban development possible in the post-war era. Mass production led to mass consumption. These houses could function more like consumer objects themselves. Editor: But even with all of that material, cultural and historical analysis in my head... this photograph still brings me back to that eerie feeling that the ordinary hides something. The almost sinister possibilities simmering beneath everyday life... Like in a horror film. This house might as well be haunted! Curator: And, of course, one could ask where these houses eventually end up when those haunted histories of mass consumerism move on? The cyclical nature of the making, purchasing, consuming, and, in the end, disposing that seems part of what Clark explores here. Editor: Thinking about dispossession like that really chills you to the bone, eh? Curator: I suppose that the ghost is built into the house and this gelatin silver print now.