Real Estate #912315 1991

Henry Wessel snapped this photograph, Real Estate #912315, sometime before 2018, using I'm guessing, a handheld camera, walking around. The muted palette of greens and beiges feels so casual, so uncalculated, yet something in this simple composition caught Wessel’s eye. The photograph shows a small house, maybe in California, with a pale green exterior and a closed garage door. It’s the kind of place you might drive by without noticing, but Wessel asks us to stop and really look. The way the light hits the house, the shadows, and even the slightly overgrown yard all contribute to a feeling that is both familiar and strange. Look at the way the green garden hose is so casually looped against the green wall. Wessel's work reminds me of Ed Ruscha’s, in that both artists find beauty in the mundane, elevating the everyday to something worth contemplating. They show us that art doesn't always have to be grand or spectacular; sometimes, it's the quiet, unassuming moments that speak the loudest.