last weekend i did something bad. good, but bad. i invested in some art. i know, i know. silly of me to do since i can now just MAKE my own art, but i can't photograph and photographs are what i bought (the price is the bad part - dont ask). i can't wait to have a place where i can hang up all my art. i'm starting to really amass a collection. i got this picture that my aunt gave me framed (professional framed - paid quite a bit of money for it!) and got some fargo pics framed (which i posted earlier and am too lazy to go back and put a link in here of those pictures). and i got this really great idea of some art that i'm going to start painting one of these days when i get my act together...
anyway, last weekend, i went to this art and design fair called ad 20/21 or something like that. i mostly went to get ideas for my own art and, of course, found the french booth and started speaking to the photographer in french and then went and spent my life savings on some pictures. not at all what i planned! so this dude, alain, has spent the last 7 years taking pictures of the word "hotel" across 20 different countries and amassed 20,000+ photos. he told me that he takes pictures of things that anyone can see, but people choose not to. so he might take a picture of the shadow of the word hotel or the word hotel on the pavement or in the reflection of a window. on his site he explains how the word hotel is disappearing because with the advent of internet, people have less reason to need to SEE the word "hotel" when they are looking for their actual hotel. and you use gps to find the place, you aren't wandering on the street looking up for the sign that says "hotel." its an easy concept and anyone could do it. but no one else has.
so here are the two photos that i bought:
the first one is of a placard on a hotel that is so shiny (polished) that you can see the reflection of the street behind. i love it because it is typicmment francais! (typical french) the french sign, the french car, the clothes the french people are wearing, the portfolio the dude is carrying. love it. love it love it love it.
the second one i love because the word "hotel" isn't straight and its in a bright color AND... as i asked the photographer "ou est le dix-sept?" "where is the 17??" does this hotel just not have a room 17?? its so curious to me! that is of a hotel in nice, france.
what do you think of my new purchases? what other pictures do you like from his site?
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I think you could have just found those places, and taken the pictures yourself.
ReplyDeleteOuch Jon. If you only knew how much she paid! By the way d, what was the photographer's response as to why there was no 17?
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