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An artist who does extreme close-ups of utility poles (atlasobscura.com)
60 points by fortran77 on Oct 17, 2020 | hide | past | favorite | 16 comments



My own favourite shot - like chocolate sprinkles. The sheer number is incredible. Each a remnant of some long-lost literal posting -- themselves becoming the new surface. Downtown Ottawa

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfTYG-phtFE/


Good stuff.

Since high school in '94 I've thought it would be lovely to go to a strange town and do a gallery show with a hundred shots taken the day before in that town of weathered garage doors, down dark alleys, walls palimpsest with invisible graffiti. All blown up to poster size. These scenes are everywhere and they're rarely acknowledged as the beauty they are.


This is the kind of shoots I do on the spot when walking and travelling. Small traces of urbanite or something.


This attention to differences in textures and materials has a substantial genealogy. It is precisely what the Dutch and Spanish still life artists concerned themselves with. Helluva challenge for a painter, and a real chance to show off. Google those terms and you will see paintings depicting glass, bread, fish, wax, copper etc etc.

Speaking of which, I would have preferred 'the artist who paints...' to 'the artist who does.. '. Less ambiguous.


As far as I can tell, these are photographs, not paintings.


Yeh I see that now. My bad. I should have corrected. But I believe my point still stands... artists paint, photograph, sculpt etc. They don't just 'do'.


Plus it does say they're photos in the article.


Not sure why you were getting downvoted, maybe people are not reading the article. It clearly talks about them photographing these poles, and in one sentence the artist discusses using the iPhone to do it.


Reminds me of the "Power Lines in Anime" series:

https://powerlinesinanime.tumblr.com/


The Buck 65 music video "Roses in the Rain" uses utility poles in a similar way! https://youtu.be/YJY2dt8B-vY


Love these. I've been taking photos of doors, windows and lit windows at night, surrounded by darkness, as well as utility posts bathed in street light, for years. Sometimes we find what we consider to be almost overwhelmingly lovely art in the very spaces or objects that most people ignore day to day. The trick is getting others to appreciate the odd beauty inherent in these same forgotten things.


"Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character".

Not anymore!


My friend liked to photograph fire hydrants and door knobs. Surprisingly interesting photo sets.


They don't make utility poles like these anymore ...


I would stop when walking to stare at them too.


Why is the capitalization different (wrong) here than on the source?




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