Larry Sultan, Business Page (1985) |
This is the third post in my “Favorite Photo Reviews” series. Today’s pick is Philip Gefter’s “Sex and Longing in Larry Sultan’s California Suburbs” (“Photo Booth,” newyorker.com, April 9, 2017).
I chose this piece because, firstly, it introduced me to the work of an amazing photographer I’d never heard of before - Larry Sultan; and secondly, I love the title. The great thing about this review is the photography itself - eleven images, arranged slideshow-style. I remember flicking through them for the first time. I came to #4, Business Page (1985). It blew my mind. I’d never seen anything like it. I love light. I love shadows. I love reflections. This picture had all three of those elements, plus something ravishingly extra - illumination. The way the natural light illumines the newspaper page is extraordinary. It’s a dazzling, transfixing, original composition. It went directly into my personal collection of great photographs.
The writing in this piece in not too shabby either. I relish this observation: “Larry’s photographs possess a quality of hard-edged California light, heightened color, optical precision, and, often, domestic familiarity made more fascinating by the power of his imagination.”
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