Untitled, (#2840)

About the Photographer

Hido, Todd

American, b. 1968

This is what remains – the opposite of perfect,

something always wrong; a stained curtain,

a shade askew, linoleum, false security,

fences, trees, snow.

Hollow shadows.

Inside/Outside

Home.

— from House Hunting, text by A. M. Homes

Often compared to filmmaker David Lynch, Todd Hido creates eerie photographs in the landscape of contemporary suburbia. Devoid of people but nonetheless suggesting human presence, his color photographs are shot at dusk using only available light and possess a sense of uneasiness and have a voyeuristic quality. The above works, from his series "House Hunting," hint at the worlds of those inside the glowing houses but refrain from overtly depicting them. Instead, Hido places himself—and by extension the viewer—on the street, alone in the dark. His photographs, identified only by numbers, refrain from identifying specific locales, suggesting a widespread alienation in American life.

A graduate of Tufts University (BFA, 1991) and the California College of Arts and Crafts (MFA, 1996), Todd Hido (b.1968) was born in Kent, Ohio. His work has been displayed in numerous venues, including solo exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago; and the Paul Morris Gallery, New York. His group exhibitions include shows at Harvard University; the Madison Art Center, WI; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A recipient of the 2001 Eureka Fellowship, Hido currently lives and works in San Francisco.