Zuma #8 1977

This is “Zuma #8”, a photograph by John Divola. It's all about layering and the conversation between inside and outside. The light in this photo is so dreamy, like faded memory. The walls are peeling, almost melting into the floor, but then you hit that view – the ocean, soft and pink at sunset. The broken windows bring the outside in, making you question where the room ends and the world begins. Is it a photograph of a room or a painting? Divola asks us how we experience art and reality. The floor is a scattering of debris and ruin, but it doesn’t feel tragic, more like a stage set. Look at how the light catches the edge of the broken window, how it bleeds into the ocean horizon. It reminds me of Robert Smithson playing around with the idea of entropy and beauty, or even a Gordon Matta-Clark building cut in half. The conversation never ends.