The Hollywood Suites (Mirrors) #6 1977

Editor: We're looking at "The Hollywood Suites (Mirrors) #6" by Steve Kahn, from 1977, a monochrome photograph. It strikes me as rather austere, a dark shape against a mostly blank canvas, like a void or a shadow of something that used to be there. What do you see in this piece? Curator: A mirror reflecting not the literal image, but the conceptual space. Don't you find it intriguing that Kahn labels it "mirror," yet all we see is a stark, almost oppressive darkness? Perhaps this darkness isn't an absence, but a repository. Think about it. The glitz and glamour of Hollywood; it’s all reflection and artifice. Is this mirror reflecting emptiness, or are those stark shapes a form of protest? Editor: A protest, you think? I hadn’t considered that. It seemed more like… mourning, somehow. Curator: Or maybe it's both. Mourning the lost authenticity, the real behind the façade. I wonder if that bottom edge, with a sort of frill, and the geometrical shape above are details of that Suite he wanted us to focus on. What would the mirror be reflecting if the whole surface wasn’t blacked out? Editor: That’s a good point; I suppose it invites you to look beyond the obvious, beyond what’s being presented directly. A real head-scratcher! Curator: It does. Like a photographic koan! It forces us to confront not what’s *there*, but what *isn't*. To engage in that visual meditation of sorts to find out something from within our own personal depths. It makes you wonder; what reflection are *you* projecting onto *it*? Editor: It definitely gives you a lot to think about, that's for sure! Curator: Indeed, a small photograph pregnant with such big ideas! I love that art has the power to be simple on its face but profound with time.