The Hollywood Suites (Mirrors) #3 1976

This is a drawing by Steve Kahn, part of the "Hollywood Suites (Mirrors)" series. I can imagine Kahn sketching this mirror in a dim, maybe slightly run-down room somewhere in Hollywood. There's a lovely, almost faded quality to the light and the marks. It’s as if Kahn is not just drawing a mirror but the *idea* of a mirror, a memory of it. And he’s really thought about how light reflects and distorts reality. I like the way the sketchiness of the lines around the mirror contrasts with the cold sterility of the light fixture above. I wonder if he was thinking about the way old Hollywood glitz sits alongside the mundane, everyday reality? That gesture, where the light reflects off the edge of the mirror—it's as though Kahn is almost touching the mirror, feeling its surface and conjuring up an atmosphere through light and shade. Like, what's been reflected here? Who has stood before it? Kahn leaves a lot unsaid, and invites us to imagine our own story.