{"id":259,"date":"2009-04-21T00:51:24","date_gmt":"2009-04-21T05:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fredhatt.com\/blog\/?p=259"},"modified":"2014-12-14T21:52:25","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T02:52:25","slug":"visual-cacophony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fredhatt.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/21\/visual-cacophony\/","title":{"rendered":"Visual Cacophony"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Graffiti

Graffiti Globe, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

New York City is like the rainforest, dense with competing and coexisting lifeforms.\u00a0 When I moved here in the 1980’s, the most striking aspect of the city was the level of anarchy and disorder that prevailed, both in the people and in the physical environment.\u00a0 It was frightening but also exciting to me.\u00a0 It said anything goes here, anything is possible.<\/p>\n

Since that time, the city has been subjected to a concerted effort to bring it in line and shine it up for the benefit of the tourists and the free-spending wealthy.\u00a0 But there’s still quite a bit of disorder remaining.\u00a0 Every city is marked by decay and destructive forces, but the high density cities also show a sort of wild snarl that comes of so many, pressed so tight, trying to make their marks, trying to self-express or sell in an overcrowded market.<\/p>\n

\"Stickers,

Stickers, 2007, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

These images dazzle the visual cortex with their mad clutter.\u00a0 A similar visual energy can be seen in another standard New York sight, the small overstuffed store.<\/p>\n

\"Filaments,

Filaments, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

People make ramshackle barricades, with no concern for aesthetics.\u00a0 Indeed, perhaps the mess says “Keep away.”<\/p>\n

\"Fence

Fence Ribbons, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Caution,

Caution, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

Even engineered structures can take on this forbidding rat’s nest quality.\u00a0 Here’s an underpass beneath elevated subway tracks in Queens.\u00a0 The combination of the mustard yellow signal light housings with the pale pink ironwork is not a color scheme anyone is likely to have chosen consciously.<\/p>\n

\"Underbridge,

Underbridge, 2009, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

Here’s a jumbled pile of trash.<\/p>\n

\"Trash,

Trash, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

And here’s a bike rack where, I think, the wheels have been removed from the bikes to facilitate locking everything up for safekeeping, resulting in a more structured but still overly busy visual mess.<\/p>\n

\"Bike

Bike Rack, 2002, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

This is an electronics store display pushing Playstations and Palm Pilots for Christmas.<\/p>\n

\"Little

Little Screens, 2005, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

Even clothing displays can create optical turmoil.<\/p>\n

\"Gold

Gold Pants, 2008. photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

A kind of purely visual pandemonium can result from the conjunction of overly busy store window displays with reflections in the glass.\u00a0 Maybe people don’t notice this effect because they visually separate things that are seen on different depth planes, but the camera compresses them into two dimensions.<\/p>\n

\"Bike

Bike Shop, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Doll

Doll Window, 2004, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Toy

Toy Shop, 2008, photo by Fred Hatt<\/p><\/div>\n

This kind of visual excess has an energizing effect on me, like wild music that’s dissonant yet exuberant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City is like the rainforest, dense with competing and coexisting lifeforms.\u00a0 When I moved here in the 1980’s, the most striking aspect of the city was the level of anarchy and disorder that prevailed, both in the people and in the physical environment.\u00a0 It was frightening but also exciting to me.\u00a0 It said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[192],"tags":[33,82,28,27],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography-signs-and-displays","tag-abstract","tag-nyc","tag-snapshots","tag-urban-landscape"],"yoast_head":"\nVisual Cacophony - 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