Denver, Colorado 1974

This photograph, Denver, Colorado, was made by Robert Adams, but the date is unknown. Adams’ work often explores the changing landscape of the American West, and here, he finds a quiet beauty in the seemingly mundane. The photograph is black and white, which strips away the distraction of color and allows us to focus on form and texture. Look closely at the surface – the weathered clapboard siding, the slightly overgrown picket fence, the rough asphalt of the road. Each of these elements is rendered with incredible detail. There is a tension between order and disorder, between the man-made and the natural. The house is neatly symmetrical, but the tree next to it is unruly, its branches reaching out in all directions. This push and pull is what makes the photograph so compelling. It is this tension, and the lack of a definitive answer that makes it art.