Images of the Urban Landscape
Art surrounds us and is everywhere. The urban landscape is full of wonderful combinations of form, colour and pattern. Our eye is tuned to take it for granted as we pass by the same mundane scene day after day. Much of what I photograph is to slow down, stop and see the expressions of our society as it is manifested in the visual imagery and artefacts of the urban social life.
Wandering through the streets attempting to pay attention to the things we usually just fly by on the way from one point to the other gives a completely different sense of the city. We do this when we travel in a foreign country. To do this where you live is an exercise that is deliberate and eye opening. You can see your usual environment in a new light. Paying attention to the combinations of structure, form, light, colour, and patterns illustrates that art indeed is everywhere.
A slide in winter surrounded by ice makes the colour of the structure pop. The monochromatic structure of a red fire escape against the red wall is a study of not only a practicality of city life but how we treat it aesthetically. The shapes formed by the cathedrals of the city, that of finance and spirituality have an uncharacteristic similarity. We can go to the limits of the urban environment and look out over the horizons, bodies of water and se how we incorporate the environment into our everyday existence. The Patterns of a flock of birds flying overhead, the rhythm of trees against a factory wall, all these are examples of the art found in an urban environment. Even the remnants of posters found on posts as seen in a previous series, is a testament to how we live in the urban environment. How we construct our urban landscape.
The first image of a series being developed is the last image of this section. Part of urban life is the process of waiting. We build rooms for this specific purpose. How we spend our time is an ever consuming aspect of life. We schedule it, write it down, and put it in computers and personal devises. We don’t have time to spend waiting in the age of immediacy. This is what informs the development of this most recent series on the urban existence.
As an artist, photographer and sociologist I seek out how we exist in our social world; make sense of it, interpret it and decorate our surroundings. This speaks to our sense of aesthetics yes, but is also and more importantly an indication of culture and what is important to us. We at times need to be reminded that there is beauty in the mundane and to slow down, examine and appreciate our environs.