Fulton and Pearl Streets, New York 1964

David Vestal made this photograph, Fulton and Pearl Streets, New York, using gelatin silver. Isn't it funny how a photograph can feel like a painting? Here, Vestal flattens the perspective, lining up the rough textures and tones of these downtown buildings almost like a collage. The old painted sign for the "Hygrade Fish Co." gives it a real sense of place. Check out the way the light rakes across the cracked wall, creating that hard diagonal line. It reminds me of the stark shadows in a Giorgio de Chirico painting or the sharp angles that slice through a Cubist composition. The light isn't soft and inviting, but graphic and a little unsettling. I love the way the peeling surfaces and busted brickwork have their own story to tell. It's about the poetry of decay, finding beauty in the overlooked. Vestal’s image pulls something profound from the everyday. Like Eugène Atget's documentation of old Paris, Vestal shows us how the most mundane subjects, seen in a certain light, can become iconic.