Kahn began by capturing the taboo through photographing professional bondage models in decrepit motel rooms on Melrose Avenue. If this sounds grimy and like borderline pornography, that’s the exact reaction Kahn intended to impose on his audience. These photographs are meant to explore Los Angeles’s deteriorating culture of dehumanization and self-alienation, although the artist’s attention quickly turned from the woman themselves to the rooms in which they resided. Poorly maintained buildings suggest a lack of human presence and the crooked curtains, dilapidated interiors and unhinged doors began to intrigue Kahn. Abandoned rooms sometimes often offer more emotion than any human expression, and Kahn’s endeavor was to use these motels’ physical features to exploit psychological bondage and containment.
The Hollywood Suites includes 58 final gelatin silver prints, Polaroids and image contact sheets to reflect the criticism Kahn imposed on his own work. Visitors of de Young will not only witness the collection’s evolution from bondage photography to haunting urban isolation, but also the extremely meticulous approach to art making.
// The Hollywood Suites comes to the de Young Museum September 29—March 31, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park; deyoung.famsf.org. Hours: Tuesdays—Sundays, 9:30 am—5:15 pm. Photography courtesy of the de Young Museum.
