Thomas Locke Hobbs – L.A. Vedute

Standing on the property line between two apartment buildings with adjacent driveways, American photographer Thomas Locke Hobbs was reminded of a Renaissance painting, The Ideal City of Urbino, where the illusion of space is achieved when receding lines that establish spatial relationships converge at a central vanishing point. It inspired his book ‘L.A. Vedute’, a documentary study of domestic architecture in Los Angeles. The work presents the way shared spaces recede to a common vanishing point, largely unpopulated and deserted, akin to movie sets where the actors have disappeared. Through metaphors of alienation, Hobbs exposes a city in conflict and coexistence.