Id, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt
The city is a forest of signs, words and pictures vying for attention. Most of them are highly transient, quickly posted over, vandalized or damaged. They’re usually more interesting in their ruined state.
The cluster of pasted bills above is an example of a recent trend in advertising of using images that are eye-catching without any clear relationship to the product being sold. Maybe the one above is about sweat socks, as those are the boring element juxtaposed with the iridescent butterflies and the child grotesque, but I really don’t know for sure. I do think the weathering and paint stains absolutely enhance the collage.
There is something about the ruined signs that suggests that no voice can prevail and no rule can overcome the power of entropy:
Authority, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt
A bulletin board that has been cleaned retains fragments of all the messages it has borne:
Stripped Bulletins, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt
Some signs have been up for so long those responsible for them have long ago stopped noticing that they have deteriorated to the point of illegibility:
Saint Anthony's Market, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt
This one was on a Polish candy store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Isn’t that candy irresistible?:
Wedel, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt
Perhaps you’d prefer a flavored Italian ice?:
Water Ices, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt
A sticker on a glass door is subject to the effects of the sun:
Cards Accepted, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt
Rust has an almost camouflaging effect on this sign:
No Parking Driveway, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt
Layers of peeling paint blunt the danger, or at least the sign:
Danger Illegible, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt
And this sign has fallen off the wall, leaving an intriguing calligraphy in dried glue:
Sign Glue, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt
If you love decay and erosion and ruined things, as I do, this mat will make you feel very welcome:
Welcome, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt
Here’s a fluorescent backlit poster, starting to go to seed in January:
Your Spirit Guide, January 2007, photo by Fred Hatt
And the same sign six months later, in a magnificent state of deterioration:
Your Spirit Guide, July 2007, photo by Fred Hatt
Some classic signs are worn down in a way that’s perfect. This sign matches the building, and would hardly be improved by being spruced up:
Joe's Tavern, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt
Destroyed words and letters can be an aesthetic demonstration that “Time is an artist”. Wrecked pictures of people have a more shocking effect:
Sean John, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt
They also tend to invite tampering in a way that verbal signs don’t:
Gum, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt
Reality Show, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt
A great smile makes you want to buy what’s for sale. This one makes me want to run out and gather up some void!:
Lipstick Smile, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt
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2 Comments
Fred, not only does weather/elements/
human scarring show the age of these images, but also the subject matter, as the last three — with frozen smiles, polyester, and that particular shade of glossy red lipstick — look like characteristics of commercial photography in the ’80′s. You are capturing time in two different ways.
This could also be a study of “place”, as in each, I was trying to grasp some clue as to where each was taken. Some seem very tied to their place; others, not at all.
Overall, I agree they are much more interesting in their scarred state. Aren’t humans the most complex in the latter stages of life? To all things, aging definitely adds complexity.
Thanks, Lori. Alll these photos were taken in New York City, mostly around Williamsburg or Greenpoint in Brooklyn or around Chelsea or Greenwich Village in Manhattan. They were also all taken between 2002 and 2009, so even though some of the styles may look like the 1980′s, they’re just retro.
Advertising images, because of their overexposure and their focus-grouped, committee-made ideas, often seem to look dated instantly, and in the form of eye-level street and subway posters, as these are, they’re immediately subjected to weathering and vandalism. It’s a kind of accelerated aging process that those of us that live in NYC can sometimes identify with!
The phrase “Time is an Artist” is the title of a 1978 book, an essay with photographs, by philosopher Walter Kaufmann, (see the epilogue and images from the book at the link), that is an appreciation of the effects of time on nature, art, and humans, and is in part an argument against restoration.
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