 |
|
There is nothing
more everyday or wonderful we can ever meet than the opposites, and I
found them—in particular, Continuity and Discontinuity—in a man
painting a yellow line to mark the border of Weehawken and Hoboken, New
Jersey. I think what Mr. Siegel asks about these opposites in his 15 Questions about
beauty describes what affected me in this surprising situation:
|
Is
there to be found in every work of art a certain progression, a certain
indissoluble presence of relation, a design which makes for
continuity?—and is there to be found, also, the discreteness, the
individuality, the brokenness of things: the principle of discontinuity? |
|
This
man is a discrete, individual element in an abstract composition of
other discrete, individual elements. The bright, yellow paint can, and
its lid held in his left hand stand out in the muted griminess of the
scene. Their circularity seems to represent the completeness, the
continuity he is trying to achieve as he paints within the precise
borders of the tape on the ground. There is the yellow line itself: in
process—flowing and broken—leading one’s eye to the darkness of the
doorway opposite. Then, incongruously, a yellow broom lying on the
ground emerges from that same darkness, bridging hidden depths with
what we can see.
The point of view is
from above, looking down. Camera
perspective has flattened the scene so that floor and wall seem
on the same plane—but the effect is one of greater relation, and
consequently, depth. Sometimes I am asked to describe my style as a
photographer, and have thought that some of my work could be seen as
“documentary surrealism.” If so, I think this photograph is an example
of it.
|