Dirty Wall

by Tublu
(Barrackpore)



What I feel is that there are interesting things around us in our daily life. I can make them more interesting if I can take the shot correctly.

I tried to capture the newly bloomed red flowers against an old dirty wall.


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Many years ago I was in an art gallery. I was actually a teenager at the time and the thrill of the art gallery was nothing compared to the thrill of having a day out of school to go.

So as we wandered through the gallery with our art teacher pointing out works by the old masters I was more concerned with finding my favourite song on my Walkman.

It wasn't actually a Walkman, it was a "Benkson". Similar thing, but a little less flashy. And it played cassettes – haven't seen one of them in a good few years.

So my trip to the art gallery was actually a day out of school where I spent most of my time untangling cassette tape from a personal stereo. Wonderful! Well, it was certainly wonderful as a teenager.

Tublu's photo could well have been hanging in that gallery back in the '80s. I would have walked right past barely batting an eye as my search for the next Duran Duran track continued.

But that's not to say there isn't a place for Tublu's photo. I can see the idea clearly here – pretty juxtaposed with ugly.

Other classic shots like this include the tramp huddled in Harrod's shop doorway (rich juxtaposed with poor) and the Model T Ford parked alongside brand new cars (old juxtaposed with new).

I could go on (fast juxtaposed with slow?) but suffice to say we humans for some reason like contrast. It makes us feel artistic.

So, I can see why Tublu went for this photo. The downside is that, in common with a lot of modern art, until it's explained to you it just looks like a poorly taken photo of someone's garden.

I once saw in an art gallery a red wall with half a Marlborough ashtray stuck onto it. It confused me. And then I overheard someone say it signified capitalism breaking through the wall of communism. Brilliant!

That's the thing with Tublu's photo. Once it's explained you can see it. Without the explanation it passes you right by.

I'm wondering then . . . to make the point a little clearer (so that no explanation is required) how about getting closer to the red flowers, include some green foliage, lose the tree trunk and make more of the wall – perhaps even a little graffiti in there.

Then we could clearly see pretty juxtaposed with ugly and none of us will be delving into pockets to change tracks.

Thanks for the submission Tublu, it brought back some nice memories for me!

Darrell.
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