Exhibition Hall 1977

This black and white photograph is of an exhibition hall by Lynne Cohen. Three chairs sit facing forward, each flanked by stuffed animals. I imagine Cohen setting up her camera in the mostly empty hall. Maybe she’s thinking about how spaces shape our behavior, how we perform in them. There's a round light on the back wall, like a spotlight, but it's not turned on. It feels melancholic, the quiet and staged scene, like waiting for a play that won't happen. The chairs have patterned fabric, maybe from the 70s, and the stuffed animals are kind of creepy, like a taxidermied chorus. The photo reminds me of other artists who examine the hidden codes in our surroundings, like Thomas Demand, who reconstructs scenes from paper. What is the relationship between photography and painting? Well, both can reveal the beauty and absurdity of the everyday. They encourage us to pause, look again, and find something new.