Since the late 1970s, James Casebere has been investigating what he calls our "unconscious visual library," producing images of architectural archetypes that recall various social institutions-including churches, prisons, asylums, and boarding schools-that we may have visited or seen in photographic reproductions. To create his uncanny, dreamlike photographs, Casebere carefully lights tabletop architectural models as a Hollywood director might light a movie set. After photographing his foam-core and cardboard miniatures, Casebere enlarges the pictures to a monumental scale, suggesting a continuation of the viewer's space.

Printed on three large panels, Yellow Hallway #1 depicts a Neoclassical interior reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. At the end of the arched hallway are two symmetrically placed doorways separated by a vacant niche. To the left, stairs ascend through another doorway toward a light source. One of the doors hangs off its hinges, a signal of something awry, reinforced by the unexpected presence of rippling, silvery water. The beautiful but disturbing scene raises questions that are left unanswered: What is this space? Why is it flooded? Where do the doorways lead? Casebere belongs to the first generation of postmodern Pictures artists like Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons, who beginning in the late 1970s used photography to critique the existing world of representation in advertising, film, and architecture.

My experience of art was primarily through photographs, so it made sense to photograph the things that I made.
-James Casebere, 2000