The simplicity, constant front on view, and clean lines cannot help but render Batlz' photographs of Tract buildings as a record. Or rather a scientific document that have much in common with the Becher's water towers/ gas stations.
Though unlike the Bechers the format is not exactly consistent, Baltz' compositions are not always front on. Yet they do present the object as unadorned, with exact fidelity to fact.
I remember first seeing his work in New York, I think it was in MoMa. The photographs appeared quite close to each other and were set out in rows, above and below each other. Coxing the viewer to compare and contrast, to look at the details in relation to the other details.
Where some may view the work as clinical, mundane... I fall into the other category that is more intrigued, eager to look at what Baltz is saying or in deed hinting at. The fidelity to fact, the details, and the black and white cleanness are pleasing in my view, and it is due to these factors that they allow these questions to be raised.
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