Park City 84 1979

Lewis Baltz made "Park City 84", a gelatin silver print, back in the day. It's like, he saw something in this raw, unfinished bathroom, right? It's all about the textures and the grays – the smooth tub against the rough drywall, the messy floor. I get the feeling Baltz wasn't trying to hide anything. The process is the point. It's like he's saying, "Here it is, in all its mundane glory." Those screw holes in the drywall, they're like little dots connecting one plane to another. It reminds me of some of Ed Ruscha's deadpan gas station photos. Both Baltz and Ruscha capture this everyday reality that's so easy to overlook. It's not pretty, but it's real, you know? Art doesn't always have to be beautiful, sometimes it just has to make you see.