Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation #63 1956

Aaron Siskind made this gelatin silver print called 'Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation #63', and it’s a real jump! I can imagine Siskind looking up, waiting, hoping for the right moment. The kid is really going for it. He’s all elbows and knees and toes, totally committed to the jump. It reminds me of being a kid—that feeling of total, almost reckless abandon. I love how the light is so flat, it almost flattens the kid into a shape. Siskind was interested in finding abstract shapes in the real world, and this photo is a great example. He crops the image tightly, so we don't see any context, just the figure against the sky. It's like he's saying, "Look at this shape! Isn't it amazing?" Painters are always looking at the world like this, trying to find new ways of seeing. We’re all in conversation with each other, across time, borrowing ideas, and pushing them further. And that's how art keeps evolving.