The Hollywood Suites (Doors) #4 1976

Steve Kahn made this photograph, "The Hollywood Suites (Doors) #4," and I find myself wondering about his process. It's a black and white photograph, and it's a bit eerie. The palette is limited, but within that, there's so much going on with the subtle tonal shifts. There’s a painting on the wall that looks like a fairground, and then this blank door right next to it. It feels staged, like a set. Maybe Kahn was thinking about the artifice of Hollywood, these closed doors, these little paintings, like windows that don’t really open anywhere. I wonder if he felt trapped, confined by the space, like he needed an escape route. It's like he's saying something about confinement, what is real and what is fake.