Equivalents 1927

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Equivalents, using a camera and film, but I can almost imagine it being painted, maybe in layers, smudging and erasing. I can feel him looking up at the sky, wrestling with what he sees, how he feels. Those soft, billowing shapes up top give way to darker, more grounded forms below. It’s a move I recognize, that search for balance between lightness and weight. A conversation between the ephemeral and the solid. You can feel the sensitivity of his touch, his need to capture something fleeting. I feel like his work connects to painters like Gerhard Richter, who also explores abstraction through photography. They both seem interested in the slippage between mediums, the way photography can mimic painting and vice versa. Ultimately, all artists share a common language, we draw inspiration from each other across time and space. We embrace the unknown and use our own intuitive understanding to make something meaningful.