Unsh, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Language is meant to flow like water.  It conveys meaning through cadence and syntax, tone and undertone.  It is the river in which our minds swim and spawn and take the bait.  Fragment and blow it up and find the weirdness in it, as you would find the odd creatures in a drop of river water seen under a microscope.

Ampersand, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

The English language is littered with mismatched characters and syllables and ideas, a jumbled rummage sale.

Hair, 2007, photo by Fred Hatt

Words on signs aren’t just signifiers, they’re physical objects that poke out, catch the light, rust, run in the rain.

Tunod Niwt, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Alphanumeric characters are wrought of our fundamental elements of form.  They become abstracted by accident, or by design.

Peace, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

All these pictures are from New York.  The city’s characteristic graphic mode is uppercase bold, and as long as a sign communicates no one has time to polish the raggedy edges.

Iquo, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Heavy fonts in all caps speak with chesty syncopation.

Clear, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Script fonts sing.  Big and bold script fonts are Broadway belters, pitching the tune to the cheap seats.

Grace, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

“Mosaic” is thought to be from the same root as “museum” and “muse”, but spelled the same way the word also means “having to do with Moses”, the Hebrew liberator and lawgiver.  Words in mosaic form look old and authoritative, even when they’re new.

OthS, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Words as signs cast shadows and coexist with all the manifestations of Nature.

Shops, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Big words are styled to give aesthetic force to what they signify, to convey qualities like whimsy, modernity, or sobriety.

Authority, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Many big signs these days are overly familiar corporate branding and generic marketing, but you still see a lot of high-spirited 20th century design.

S Broiled S, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Like the babble of voices in a crowd, words on display can get lost in the layers and dissolve into multicolored noise.

Og & Cat Fo, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Sometimes I see hidden messages in segments of words.

Land Rot, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Some words shake their booties like shameless drunks.

Rub Righteous, 2007, photo by Fred Hatt

Others proudly proclaim their dullness and conformity.

Building Mart, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Basking on glass, a word is projected on the underlying soft fabric.

Stones, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Choose me!  I am exotic in a fun and happy way.

Opt, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

I dare to be illegible but dashing, an arabesque in gridland.

Villency, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

We have everything you could want, and all of it is all lit up.

Neon Menu, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

In all the jumble and agita of the hard world, we offer you light and color and atmosphere.

Light, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Curvy swooping lines that sell a fantasy of elegant luxury contrast or merge with the jagged overlay of winter survivors.

Trump Palace, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt

Rustic and quirky means wholesome and real.

Organic, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

That’s in contrast to the traditional corporate style, respectable intimidation.

Time War, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Neon words are spelled with bent tubes of glass holding luminous gas, little labyrinths of light.

Monum, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Stone words are the traditions that stand through the centuries, defying the ephemeral.

Crucified Again, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Shiny metal is the dazzle of the technological era.

All, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

A word can be like a vine, florid and tentacular.

Primary, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Another word embodies the neatness and assertive simplicity of the modern style, even amid a jungle of decor.

Optic, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Fun can be manufactured on an industrial scale.

Thrills Whee, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt

Silliness and idiosyncracy can be picked up in a shop.

Parties, 2001, by Fred Hatt

We can make you think of the most intimate sensory experiences while you navigate the canyon of towers.

Smell, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

When you come to a corner, hang a 90 and keep on trucking.

Groc Ery, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Pop art is all about abstracting icons and remixing ideas in the field of commerce.

Vote, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

It takes some patina to fulfill the classical style.

Hand, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

When the power is turned off, the word means its opposite.

Open, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Letters condensed to be readable from one angle look like broken stairsteps when seen from another angle.

School, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

In our time we are not ashamed of our desires.  They are the meaning of our lives!

Urge, 2007, photo by Fred Hatt

It is all about getting and getting more and more.

Receiving, 2007, photo by Fred Hatt

Even when it is all eroding out from under us, we shall consume.

Fresh Donuts, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

The only alternative to satiating our desires is lashing out in our anger!

Rage, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Slick Sidewalks, January, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Here we take a look back at 2010 in the landscape of New York City, with one photo from each month.  I often keep a camera with me as I walk around the city, and photograph scenes and patterns and effects of the light that catch my eye, like the rainy reflections above, or the illusion of a face in a mound of plowed snow, below.

God of Dirty Snow, February, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Road Plate, March, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Metallic gray is warmed by the brown of rust or the pink of spring blossoms.

Petaled Accord, April, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Deepwater Demon, May, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Sunset Shorts, June, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

The Summer is about relaxing outdoors.  Streetlights through leaves make an urban park at night an impressionist fantasy.

Bryant Park at Night, July, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Signals, August, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

The chaos of signs, patterns and colors embodies the energy of the city.

Sign Painter, September, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Shadowscreen, October, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Autumn in New York is a long, lingering season of mild weather and gentle brightness.

S Curve, November, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

Wall Sheen, December, 2010, photo by Fred Hatt

All of these pictures were made with a Canon G11, casual shots of scenes glimpsed as I made my quotidian peregrinations of jobs and errands in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.  I have selected one photo out of all those made in each month of 2010.  Happy 2011!

Fragmented Flag, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

For the Fourth of July, I offer a selection of images of the Stars and Stripes, as displayed in my home city of New York.

Many artists have explored the aesthetic possibilities of the U.S. flag, most famously Jasper Johns. It has a strong graphic presence that makes it stand out in nearly any setting.  The bold colors and stripes assert themselves through distortions that would render most patterns unintelligible, as in the images above and below.

Auto Reflection, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

Here a flag in a window is seen through the reflection of another flag hanging from a building across the street.  There are additional small flag stickers in the reflected windows.  Even the stripes of the blinds and the fields of colors made by the reflected building and sky seem to echo the visual elements of the flag.

Flag in Flag, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Below, a gentle breeze is enough to make ripples in the water standing in the gutter, but just barely moves the flag hanging from the side of a building.

Gutter Reflection, 2004, photo by Fred HattFlag on Rusty Car, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

I had been casually photographing things seen on the street for many years, but in 2001 I got my first digital camera, a Canon G1, and began carrying it with me nearly all the time, dramatically increasing my photographic output.  That was the year of the September 11 attack, of course, and suddenly flags were everywhere in the city, as expressions of solidarity and defiance.  When photographing in the city it became nearly impossible not to photograph flags.  At that time, it was common to see unusually large flags attached to cars:

Flag on Rusty Car, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

The explosion in the number of flags displayed in New York City lasted for quite a few years.

Construction Shed Flag, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

In a way, the proliferation of flags showed that people felt called to respond to a terrible new reality, but didn’t know how.  This kind of symbolism was all we had.  Often, religious and national symbols are used in response to our sense of powerlessness in the face of death and history.

Headstone, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

The Union battle flag below, a veteran of the War Between the States, is on display at Grant’s Tomb in Manhattan:

Civil War Battle Flag, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Outside the Tomb, there are columns that translate the stars and stripes into sculptural form:

Flag Column, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Another flag in columnar form is this display on the outside of the NASDAQ MarketSite building in Times Square, a building completely covered in video billboard.

Nasdaq Flag, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

In the years following September 11, 2001, many businesses in the city displayed flags or incorporated them into their commercial displays.  Here’s the window of a Brooklyn store that sells walkers, trusses, neck braces, and the like:

Medical Supplies Flag, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

A psychic reader’s window displays symbols of power:  crystals, wizards, angels, and the flag:

Psychic's Display, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Screaming Mimi’s is a long-time vintage clothing store in Manhattan, made famous in the 1980′s by pop singer Cyndi Lauper.  In the zeroes they got on the patriotic bandwagon too.

Screaming Mimi's Red White & Blue, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

Here, the U.S. flag adorns an inflatable sledgehammer, perhaps a metaphor for the American Empire’s ineffective military might and bubble economics.   Or maybe it’s just a cute toy.

Inflated Toys, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

The following picture is not from Abu Ghraib, but from a Manhattan bondage club, duly expressing its patriotic sentiments in the wake of 9/11.

Bondage Club, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

I live in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, where the flag of the Mother Country is often displayed alongside that of the Land of Opportunity.

Italian America, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Country first, hamburgers second:

United States of White Castle, 2006, phot by Fred Hatt

Here the slanting winter sun gives a glow to a row of international flags and the exhaust from Manhattan’s famous network of underground steam pipes.

Flags and Steam, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

A lot of people put up flags and forget about them, letting the elements fade and tear them.

Weathered Flag, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

On this flag sticker, the stripes have completely faded away, replaced by a beautiful network of cracks like one would see on a dessicated lake bed.

God Bless America, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Another faded sticker, another inane yellow smiley:

United We Stand, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

The wind has whipped this flag to ribbons:

Stars and Ribbons, 2007, photo by Fred Hatt

And this flag flies in a fortified industrial wasteland:

Flag and Razor Wire, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

This is getting too depressing.  Flags blowing in the wind, even if they are ripped up, can make beautiful patterns of thrilling color:

Tattered Flag, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Flags often make interesting wriggly shapes when viewed from almost directly underneath:

Soft and Hard, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Convulsing Stripes, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Billowing Flag, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

And flags clustered together send the color moving in all directions:

Flag Cluster, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt

Patriotic Neighborhood, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Here, a building shrouded for renovation work still displays its flag in golden crepuscular light:

Sunset Flag, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

As a complement to this post, you may want to check out my earlier post, “9/11:  Signs in the Aftermath“, which shows many flags and other kinds of displays that sprouted in New York City in response to the catastrophe of September 11, 2001.

Princess Pups, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

New York City is the capital of the advertising business in North America so it is to be expected that commercial imagery is plastered everywhere you look.  The whole city has attention deficit disorder and all kinds of bids for attention have to be extravagant to be noticed at all.  Some of the faces and bodies on the sides of buildings would make King Kong look petite.  This post is a collection of such giants, all taken during the last decade during my daily travels about the city.  On this first one, the face alone is ten stories tall!

Towering Redhead, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Leggy, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Computer-printed vinyl banner or wrap technology is the main way it’s done in our era, but enormous figures on walls have been a part of the New York streetscape for a long time, as evidenced by this 1960′s smoking playboy, brought to light when a building that had been covering him for decades was demolished:

Smoker, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

That one’s painted directly on the brick wall, by painters dangling from the side of the building like window washers.  The classic craft of the billboard painter is rare now but not gone.  Hand-painted giants are still to be seen in New York:

Heat, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Here a hand-painted billboard is seen through a fence upon which tiles have been hung in a memorial for the World Trade Center tragedy:

Stars and Lashes, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

It always seems to me that a huge proportion of these oversized wall images are sexually provocative beautiful people, but maybe those are just the ones I notice.  Here’s Hilary Swank swooning like Bernini’s St. Teresa:

Ecstasy, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Male sex gods are always seen towering over this new nightlife area in a part of town that used to be devoted to wholesaling meat.  Well, I guess it still is:

Meatpacking District, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

And what sells shoes better than foot fetishism on a Brobdingnagian scale:

Foot Worship, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

I think some of it is just to shock the country people that come to the city as tourists:

Reba, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

But surely if you want to cover up an ugly remodeling job on a fancy shopping street, a near-nude hottie will do the trick:

Lingerie, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

This example of the same is surely sexual, but what the heck is going on here?

Expansion, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

There’s something eerie about colossal figures seen looming behind trees.  Here are three lovely examples:

Oiled, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Adonis, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Romance, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

The legendary Plaza Hotel is all class, so they shielded their condo conversion work with an elegant and demure giant billboard.  Sadly, this development suffered the same fate as most of the other bubble-borne building projects of the late zeroes:

Plaza Conversion, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Huge still images are so widespread in the city that more advertisers are investing in monster-sized video screens.  This one reminds me, a bit creepily, that we are all under constant surveillance:

Big Brother, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

But when I’m stuck in automotive gridlock, a giant cat face cheers me up a bit!

Cat Truck, 2007, photo by Fred Hatt

WTC: The Looming Towers, January, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

For those of us who lived in New York City, the 11th of September, 2001 was a day of shock and loss, but the years following that day have been a slow-motion tragedy of squandered opportunities and betrayed values.  Here’s the story of the first five years following the attacks, told through pictures of signs and displays that I saw in my everyday urban peregrinations, in chronological order.

Sip from History Untarnished, September, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Still Standing, September, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Bus Shelter, September, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

God Is Love, September, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Jules et Jim, December, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Church Sign, December, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Bloomingdales Window, December, 2001, photo by Fred Hatt

Firefighter Statue, January, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

Fallen Officers Shrine, March, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

God Bless America Beware of Dogs, June, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

Memorial Mural, September, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

Arrest Warmonger Bush, September, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt

The flyer on the left reads:  “Arrest warmonger Bush!  A true genocidal Nuremberg criminal.”   The one on the right reads: “I’m digging my grave now, but SOON it will be YOUR turn.  War: Get used to it.  A message from the Ministry of Homeland Security.”

Floral WTC Mural, January, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Yellow Ribbon, April, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Tribute in Light, September, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Tchotchkes, October, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

America Will, October, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

A Day Hasn't Passed, November, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

Our Response to Violence, November, 2003, photo by Fred Hatt

The caption on the image on the right says: “This will be our response to violence: To make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.  -Leonard Bernstein”

Check Cashing, March, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

The caption on the flag reads: “To those we lost and their families, our prayers; to those who helped, our love; to those responsible, our wrath.”

Wanted Dead or Alive, April, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

The poster says: “Wanted Dead or Alive: Osama bin Laden, for mass murder in New York City.”

We Live in Danger, August, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Ruining the World, September, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Be Suspicious, November, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

The poster on the trash receptacle reads: “If you see something, say something.  Be suspicious of anything unattended.  Tell a police officer, a Times Square Alliance employee, or call 1-888-NYC-SAFE.”

Defend the Constitution, November, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Vote or Die, November, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

Worst President Ever, November, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt

His Nickname Was Boo, January, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

The poster says “George Fernandez.  His nickname was Boo.  Not just a statistic.”

I Want You, January, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

Seeking Information Alert, February, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt

The flyer says: “Seeking Information Alert.  These individuals are being sought in connection with possible terrorists threats against the United States.  Contact Information:  If you have any information concerning these individuals, please contact the local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.”

Memorial and Trashbins, March, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

Random Search, May, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt

These Colors Don't Run, July, 2006, photo by Fred Hatt