Gloucester 3 1949

Aaron Siskind made "Gloucester 3," a photograph, exploring abstraction through the textures of the everyday. Think of it as a painter's approach, but with a camera. I’m drawn to how Siskind finds these accidental compositions in the real world. He zeroes in on peeling paint, and weathered surfaces, transforming them into something monumental. There’s this figure in the upper part of the frame, arms outstretched, almost Christ-like. But it’s just chance, just the way the paint cracked and faded. The photograph has a tactile quality, the contrast turned way up, so you feel like you could run your fingers over the rough, flaking surface. This is similar to the work of Minor White, who found the spiritual in the mundane. Ultimately Siskind's images reminds us that art is everywhere, waiting to be discovered.