Kelly Kavanagh
Matt BlazeDe-electrified, Philadelphia, PA, 2005.
High potential pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/2155416560/
These (de-electrified) catenary wires were captured with a Sinar P camera on Polaroid 55 film (scanned) along the (former) Pennsylvania Railroad's "high line" in west Philadelphia near the university.
The wires are out of context. We don't see what they're anchored to or where they go. Alone, they're little more than abstract lines and shapes.
The composition references a 1936 painting, "Electrification", by precisionist painter Ralston Crawford; see https://hirshhorn.si.edu//collection/artwork/?edanUrl=edanmdm:hmsg_72.75 .
Precisionism, a roughly century-old American art movement related to cubism, is a strong influence on my work. Its practitioners included Joseph Stella, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Charles Demuth. Paul Strand was probably the most prominent precisionist photographer. Precisionism is concerned with structure and geometry as well as the relationship between humans, machines, and the industrial landscape.
I'm interested in how the precisionists might interpret the world as it's become today.
lnmnkatz@mattblaze Don't overdo it. You are already a Professor of Law and of Computer Science. Leave a Profesdor of Art slot for someone else (and beware the wrath of the Mastodontoids)
curtosis@mattblaze Smart of you to use film, instead of trying to capture three-phase powerlines with a PhaseOne back.
@curtosis that’s why it’s black and white.
Garrett Wollman@mattblaze I can't express how angry abandoned railroad electrification makes me.
Arthur Copeland@mattblaze
My first thought was, “That can’t be Philly, there aren’t any shoes hanging from the lines.” Then saw the location in Philly and it made sense (I’m “former UPenn” too).
Something about the created triangles makes me think of Kandinsky or Moholy-Nagy.
Really nice work!
Ölbaum@mattblaze It’s funny, because I saw the post below earlier today, expected it to be from you, and when it wasn’t, contemplated sending it to you because you’d like it.
Marcus (@[email protected])
Attached: 1 image Power Lines Drawing #114 (Detroit, Buchanan St) #MastoArt #Drawing #Detroit #PowerLinesDrawings