Back to The Arcade

Franck Bohbot’s photographs always remind us of candy waiting behind the vitrine in a movie theatre. The colors explode with potential, yet somehow welcoming as if soaked in sugared memory. In his series Back to The Arcades Bohbot’s mastery of color, and ability to frame a narrative is in full display. Through his lens, each arcade opens to the viewer like a tightly woven short film, noiresque even. For there is a feeling of criminality here as if you’ve found your way into a speakeasy, where acts are taking place that is both hidden and fringe, yet celebrated by those lucky enough to have produced the password to the doorman. And in the midst of this are the machines themselves: grouped together in collections by those obsessed with them, tantalizing to touch, to play. Bohbot’s eye shows us this side of Los Angeles, where inhabitants have grouped together to experience this frivolity, to be solitary yet in groups, to revel in the fantastical pursuit of dreams. All of this is bathed in Bohbot’s unique light, much like the city itself, a place where joy chases the sun, and when it sets, the occupants of the city find their hidden places.