Untitled (Laguna Beach) 1979

Curator: This photograph, simply titled "Untitled (Laguna Beach)," was captured by Bill Dane. The dimensions are relatively modest. It presents a poolside scene bathed in California sunlight. What strikes you first about it? Editor: There's a strong sense of voyeurism, wouldn't you say? Like we're peering into a private, privileged world, but with a bit of critical distance, facilitated by the plants in the foreground. Curator: Absolutely. The framing device, that screen or window, both separates and connects us to the subjects. Consider the politics of leisure, particularly in the context of Laguna Beach and its history of both wealth and social tensions. Editor: And the black and white rendering further complicates things. It adds a layer of remove, almost flattening the scene and highlighting the artifice of it all. It's like a commentary on the constructed nature of leisure itself. Curator: Indeed. Dane’s work often explores these liminal spaces—the boundaries between public and private, reality and representation. The lack of a date also speaks to something timeless. Editor: Making it an enduring, and perhaps unsettling, snapshot of a certain kind of American dream, or lack thereof. Curator: Precisely. It certainly invites continued conversation about who gets to participate, and at what cost.