Chicago 56 1960

Aaron Siskind made this black and white photograph sometime in 1956, maybe with a large format camera. I'm imagining him wandering around Chicago, finding something he's never seen before. It’s all dark in the middle, like a hole that sucks you in. Then this bright matter pushes out from the center, like arms reaching out. I wonder what Siskind felt when he saw this? There’s something so raw and gestural about this image. It almost feels like a Cy Twombly painting, but instead of marks on canvas, it's the world itself that's making the marks, and Siskind just captured it. Photography and painting are not so different really. It's all about seeing and feeling. I think that we, as artists, are in a constant conversation, inspiring each other across time, embracing the unknown. It’s not about fixed meanings; it’s about the ongoing dialogue.