Kiss in Car 1986

This image, "Kiss in Car" is by Sandy Skoglund. The first thing that jumps out is the way Skoglund has constructed this image, layering different realities, contrasting what we see as “real” versus artificial. Look at how she mixes the mundane, like the gritty texture of skin, with the hyper-real, those candy-like blue seats. It’s like a dream, or maybe a slightly off-kilter memory. The physicality of the image is really striking; the way the grainy texture of the faces contrasts against the solid, blocky colors of the car interior, it’s a really odd, unsettling kind of clash. The ape in the back, is he sleeping? It reminds me a little of David Hockney's photo collages, the way they play with perspective and push the boundaries of what a picture can be. But Skoglund takes it a step further, creating a whole environment, it makes you rethink the nature of love and art.