Spectacular Master Baths c. 1983

This photo, "Spectacular Master Baths," was captured by Joe Deal, sometime before 2010. It's a black and white photograph and it feels like a document. The sign, with its promise of luxury, sits in the foreground, almost comically out of place amidst the overgrown weeds and scrubby landscape. I can imagine Deal setting up his camera, framing this shot with a kind of detached curiosity. Was he drawn to the irony of the sign's grandiose claim against the backdrop of a somewhat desolate environment? There's a tension here; the formal sign against the wildness of nature, the promise of 'spectacular' versus the reality of what's in front of us. It reminds me of other photographers of the time, questioning the American dream, and the promises that advertising makes to us. It's almost like Deal is asking us to consider the gap between aspiration and reality.