Red Paint, Japan 1974

This photograph, *Red Paint, Japan*, was taken by Nathan Lerner, though we don't know exactly when. It features layers of peeling paint, and the image's power emerges from the material qualities of surface, texture, and decay. Lerner found his subject in a scrap of the everyday world. Rather than traditional art materials, we see common industrial coatings: house paint, perhaps applied and reapplied over time by anonymous laborers. The thick impasto has cracked, revealing earlier applications in multiple colors. The vibrant red is particularly striking, especially given the way it seems to be actively flaking away from the surface. Lerner, known for his engagement with design and photography, elevates the chance beauty of urban wear-and-tear into something worth contemplation. The act of photographing calls our attention to the life of materials, and their constant state of transformation. And in so doing, the photograph encourages us to look beyond conventional ideas of beauty and art.