An artist who does extreme close-ups of utility poles

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/utility-pole-surfaces

by fortran77 • 6 years ago

60 16 6 years ago

swrobel• 6 years ago

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

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/

jungletime• 6 years ago

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

ohazi• 6 years ago

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

https://powerlinesinanime.tumblr.com/

Daub2• 6 years ago

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.

Someone• 6 years ago

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

StavrosK• 6 years ago

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

Daub2• 6 years ago

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'.

scruffyherder• 6 years ago

"Arnold Judas Rimmer is a fictional character".

Not anymore!

kleer001• 6 years ago

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.

johnchristopher• 6 years ago

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

shadowprofile77• 6 years ago

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.

foobarbecue• 6 years ago

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

Ericson2314• 6 years ago

I would stop when walking to stare at them too.

amelius• 6 years ago

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

An artist who does extreme close-ups of utility poles

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