Mailboxes
In late 1999 I purchased a Star Map from a vendor in Westwood. Trusting the map’s accuracy, I followed its path around the greater Los Angeles area — from Beverly Hills to Encino to Malibu, etc. Along the way I would photograph those celebrity mailboxes that could be seen as figural. The typical celebrity mailbox is a tamper proof box recessed into a solid wall, but some were more conventional in their appearance. These I photographed from a slightly low angle and in very shallow focus — in traditional “portrait in nature” style.
Upon searching for these celebrity dwellings, one quickly comes to the realization that the likelihood of coming into contact with the celebrities themselves is very slim. In fact, it is quite common to find that one cannot even see their homes. Often they are set far back from the road and there is a large gated wall blocking off any view from this direction. One follows the map, comes to the mailbox bearing the appropriate house number, and thus becomes aware that they have made it to the celebrity address. It is the only clue that this is the space designated by the Star Map. Given that there is nothing else to see, the mailbox comes to stand for the celebrity. My photographs seek to literalize this situation, while also alluding to the way that the celebrity becomes perversely both revered and genericized in our culture.
