Dana Point #2 1970

Lewis Baltz made this gelatin silver print, Dana Point #2, sometime during his life. What strikes me first is the way the image is constructed, almost like a painting. The stark black letters against the pale wall, it's all so…flat. The wall itself is the real subject here. Look at that texture! The way the light catches on every little bump and imperfection. It’s almost like he’s asking us to consider the surface itself, the very thing we usually ignore in favor of what’s “on” it. The bottom has a strip of dark concrete, or maybe it’s tar, which anchors the image, but the sign floats above, disconnected. It’s kind of funny, this deadpan observation of the built environment. Baltz reminds me of Ed Ruscha, another artist who found beauty in the mundane, in the overlooked corners of American life. But, Baltz’s work is more austere, more melancholic, maybe. In the end, it feels like an ongoing conversation about how we see, what we value, and what we choose to ignore.