There’s a determine in Jeff Wall’s light-box {photograph}, The Previous Jail, 1987, that’s straightforward to overlook. In reproductions, he’s barely seen, misplaced within the lengthy and protracted expansiveness of the panorama. Viewing the work in particular person, one sees the person come out of the image, punctuating the panorama in his crimson sweater. He stands near the deserted construction along with his again turned away from the digicam, wanting off into the gap. The person is what Germans name a R_ü_ckenfigur, or again determine, a Romantic image synonymous with the work of Caspar David Friedrich. However not like Friedrich’s work, Wall’s {photograph} doesn’t conjure emotions of the chic or the exalted. Though the picture appears banal, it’s nonetheless stubbornly enigmatic. Why and for what goal is the person there?
Across the jailhouse lies a barren area. It’s empty however not vacant: An outdated mattress, a sofa, and bits of stray rubbish are scattered about. The mattress and sofa trace at a possibility for reverie—beers in a barren lot, adopted by a restful nap and a stroll within the afternoon gentle. But this second exists solely as an idle promise.
On the decrease left-hand nook of the {photograph}, counterposing the determine’s presence, are indicators saying a growth to come back. The vista is now similar to another panorama in Vancouver, a website for actual property hypothesis—terrain to be parceled out, purchased and bought. These particulars assemble to type the coastal motifs of Wall’s pictures, particular traits that time to a darkish historical past of dispossession and deprivation. Such motifs are obstinate, like open wounds that may by no means heal.