Buenos Aires, 2005, off the Diagonal Possibly 2005 - 2014

Leo Rubinfien made this photograph in 2005, off the Diagonal in Buenos Aires, and it feels like it was made with light and shadow. Look at the man’s eyes, they are full of life. I can see the texture of the world on his face, the buildings behind him are out of focus as though this man is a mountain to be reckoned with. Rubinfien is a master of tone, and he uses it here to create an image full of both realism and mystery. He is in conversation with the great portrait photographers like Diane Arbus. The man’s stare captures us; we are both subject and object. Photographs are like paintings: they’re a way of seeing and experiencing the world, and Rubinfien invites us to consider how we look, how we are looked at, and what it all means.