Real Estate #91275 1991

Henry Wessel captured this photograph titled Real Estate #91275 and made it feel like it was made with the eye of a painter. The color palette is muted, almost faded, like an old memory. The texture of the brick is so present; it makes you want to reach out and touch it. It feels like Wessel wasn't trying to conceal the process, instead he was embracing the realness. The chipped paint along the base, for example, tells a story of time and neglect, making you wonder about the lives lived within those walls. Look at the way the light falls on the front of the house, almost a caress. Wessel's framing reminds me of some of the New Topographics photographers who found beauty in the mundane. But there's a warmth in Wessel's work, that makes me think of the painter Edward Hopper. Both artists show us the beauty in the everyday, reminding us there is more than one way to look at things.