Minor White 1975

Mike Mandel made this black and white image of Minor White, and whatever date it's from, it feels pretty timeless. The man, Minor White, is shown holding a baseball bat, not posed heroically like you might expect, but sort of slumped over his shoulder. The image is grainy and soft, like a memory half-forgotten. Look at the subtle stripes of the blanket wrapped around him, the way they suggest both comfort and confinement. What strikes me most is the contrast between the playful baseball bat and the solemn, almost mournful expression on White's face. It's like a collision of innocence and experience, youth and age. This pairing of images reminds me of the work of John Baldessari, who uses similar juxtapositions of photography and text to create unexpected, often humorous, narratives. This picture isn’t trying to tell us one specific story, but invites us to dream up our own.