Kiss in Car 1986

This is Sandy Skoglund’s photograph, "Kiss in Car." I can only imagine what it felt like to be in her head when she was making this piece. She's created such a bizarre stage set; an entire car interior, and the occupants of it, bathed in neon blues and oranges. Skoglund then introduces this unexpected element of the two gorillas in the back seat, seeming like a couple on a date gone wrong. I wonder if the artist felt a little like a gorilla herself, creating this image. Perhaps she was grappling with the awkwardness and absurdity of human interactions and the roles we play. I'm sure she was thinking about the history of photography, and maybe the tradition of surrealism? All artists are constantly in conversation with each other, across time and space. Skoglund offers us a space to contemplate the complexities of relationships and the strangeness of everyday life. It’s this kind of oddness and uncertainty that makes art so exciting.