I believe this place is called the Bohemian Embassy or something idiotic like that. I've watched this construction progress for the last four or five years. It's pretty much a done deal at this point and they're just working to get the retail stuff rented along the street level and work out the landscaping. I imagine the condos are sold off. This and the two previous shots are all taken of one particular vacant retail unit in that structure.
I love these road work signs against the wall. They make an otherwise pretty boring wall shot more engaging. Using them as the focal point also contrasts with the square frame of the entire image. These diamonds are simply smaller versions of the actual frame of the piece rotated 45 degrees. I wasn't actually thinking of that when I shot the piece but I've been very cognizant of "frames" recently. I keep coming back to a specific aspect of Art History classes at Waterloo that dealt with the work of Jasper Johns and his interest in framing or containing/not containing a painting. I'm referring to what I think was an aspect of the target paintings. My late obsession with the square frame has something to do with stripping the 35mm negative aspect and dimension from my work. That golden rectangle is spectacular but I'm not seeing things with that structure in mind anymore. just doesn't do it for me anymore. Maybe this is simply me pushing against the camera and the photographic aspect of my work which I'm struggling with lately. I'll probably try to explain that better at some point.
Here's a strange aside. I use to work at Woolfitt's about 20 years ago when it was on Davenport. it's now right beside this condo building and has been for probably 15 years. Ben Woolfitt a pretty nice owner boss and I remembered being somewhat in awe that he was painting abstractions and fooling with different mediums. I was a retail lackey but it was a sweet job. I got great art supplies cheap and I got to serve some crazy artists like Joyce Weiland, Ronald Bloor and William Ronald. There was this cool guy who worked in the office on important accounts and stuff that was a photographer. He took some shots of me when I was young. I've met him over the years in different places in the city, and once I ran into him shooting here as construction progressed. I don't really get portraiture, but Jim Tinios also shoots amazing landscapes. He knows his stuff, but more than that I identify with how he shots landscape or urban scenes. There's nothing "pretty" about his images but the ones I've seen are stunning.
Whatever the dealio, I really like this image.
2012-01-06 14:20:55 - 0 comments. Category: Category: [Vacancy]
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