Real Estate #908015 1990

This image, Real Estate #908015, was made by Henry Wessel sometime before 2018, using photographic film. I’m curious about how this photo came to be. Did Wessel drive around, looking for the right house, the right light? I feel the creaminess of the house’s facade, the hard line of the roof against that perfect blue. It’s so cool, literally and figuratively! I think of other artists, like Ed Ruscha, also driving around LA and making a typology of buildings. But this one feels different. It's more intimate somehow, with the slightly overgrown lawn. What I get from this house is a kind of melancholic serenity, like the last house on earth. It's like Wessel is saying, "Look at this; isn't it amazing?" And it is, in its own quiet way.