^{Isaac Layman’s Asleep 4.5 Minutes (2008), photograph, 40 by 53 1/2 inches}

At Lawrimore Project. (Gallery site here.)

All of the “action” in this photograph—a regular old single photograph (not a digital montage) taken with a special camera over a time lapse of 4 and a half minutes—happens on the scalloped edges of the pockets. See them? It’s not a fashion thing. In real life, those edges are straight, not scalloped. They only look like this because of the breathing of the artist, Isaac Layman (another rocking Seattle photographer), during the long exposure time. The regular, rhythmic up and down movement of his torso left its mark on the shape of the pockets. What’s strange is how clear they appear to be, how unblurry and static. At the same time, they bring to mind cartoon movement, like the way characters’ lips undulate when they burp on The Simpsons. I can’t get these shapely little nonexistent things out of my mind.