The Hollywood Suites (Windows) #4 1976

This is Steve Kahn’s “The Hollywood Suites (Windows) #4,” a photograph. The graininess of the image gives it a kind of material presence, like a drawing made up of tiny dots. It’s just a window, but it’s doing so much. The flat black rectangle of the window contrasts with the floral curtains, pulled slightly apart. This small gesture activates the whole picture. It’s as if the window is exhaling. I like how the floral pattern is both domestic and a bit unsettling, like the wallpaper in a horror movie. Kahn reminds me a little of Lynne Cohen, who also photographed banal interiors with a similar sense of humor and unease. Ultimately, it’s this tension, this mix of beauty and something vaguely sinister, that makes Kahn’s photograph so compelling. It keeps me looking, wondering what's just out of sight.