San Quentin Point, no. 27 Possibly 1982 - 1985

Lewis Baltz made "San Quentin Point, no. 27" as a photograph. It's a black and white image, and I think of it as a study in textures. It looks simple, but there’s a lot going on here. The eye roams across the grainy earth, snagged by the crumpled form of that dark bag. Baltz coaxes a surprising range of tones from a seemingly limited palette, creating depth and shadow. I can almost feel the grit under my feet! What is that dark shape? A discarded garbage bag, like a collapsed monument to consumerism? Or maybe something more sinister, a body bag, a silent witness to something unseen? Like other conceptual photographers such as Bernd and Hilla Becher, Baltz makes something profoundly moving out of the mundane. I love how these artists embrace ambiguity, leaving space for us to bring our own interpretations.