Arnold Crane 1975

Editor: This gelatin-silver print is a 1975 work by Mike Mandel, simply titled "Arnold Crane." There’s something kind of playful and offbeat about it. He’s holding a baseball bat, wearing a baseball cap, and... is that a camera tripod and case behind him? It's such a strange juxtaposition! What strikes you about this image? Curator: Playful and offbeat nails it. It's like a baseball card gone surreal. It makes you wonder about the relationship between the artist and his subject, and their collaborative intention, perhaps. Was this an inside joke? I can’t help thinking about this man Arnold, and all the associations triggered here, like the way that a photograph simultaneously tells a truth but may also manipulate a reality. A person holding a baseball bat – ready for anything or anything at all. Editor: That's true; it does feel like there’s more to the story. Do you think the ordinary setting adds to that feeling? Like, he's not on a baseball field. Curator: Exactly! The domestic setting messes with our expectations, doesn't it? Makes us feel that reality itself can shift and take on strange poses. I'd also be curious about how the gelatin silver printing method adds to this uncanny feeling, it's such a specific way of capturing an image, now a kind of ghostly procedure itself. How about you? Editor: The idea of the manipulated reality makes a lot of sense. Seeing it as a ghostly procedure really adds another layer of intrigue! Curator: Right? Maybe we’re all just gelatin silver prints, fading into a strange light. Editor: I hadn't considered that at all! Now I’m wondering how that might change my own approach to photography.