Bill Jenkins 1975

Mike Mandel made this photo, Bill Jenkins, a small black and white print, as part of a larger project looking at baseball. I like that the subject, Bill, isn't what you might expect. He's holding a baseball bat, yeah, but he also has these big glasses, and a plaid shirt, and a New York baseball cap pulled low. The texture of this picture is what gets me. The way you can see the grainy shadows that make up the image, and how they define the space around Bill. Look at the way the light falls on his jacket, it almost looks like a painting! This photo makes me think of someone like John Baldessari, who also looked at everyday images and recontextualized them. Ultimately, art is a remix, it's a conversation. And this picture makes me think about what is considered typical and how unexpected juxtapositions can change our perception of the world.