Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/01/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I've always felt that the trouble with using signs in pictures - signs with words I mean - is that they depend for their effect on the language spoken by the viewer. They are a very easy way to establish locality, but similar words mean very different things in different languages and what might seem like an injection of humour will be completely lost on a viewer who doesn't speak the language. Cheers, Paul. ******* Paul Hardy Carter +44 (0)20 3239 9573 www.paulhardycarter.com www.lightstalkers.org/phc www.twitter.com/paulhardycarter Skype: paulhardycarter ******* On 18 Jan 2009, at 20:09, Alan Magayne-Roshak wrote: > Ric, you shoot signs, and I have a selection on my gallery too, so I > thought you > might be interested in this (from A Word A Day list): > > >> Subject: "Signs: Wordplay in Photography" Exhibit > >> An exhibit opens January 17 at the de Young museum in San >> Francisco, titled: "Signs: Wordplay in Photography" and continues >> through >June 14, 2009. The museum's description of the exhibit >> states: > >> The communications theorist Marshall McLuhan called advertising >> 'the greatest art form of the twentieth century'. It is not >> surprising to >find that signs appear with greater frequency in >> modern and contemporary photographs than in any other medium. Even >> before the Pop >> Art movement, they were admitted into the photographic frame as >> bold graphic elements. There they may simply provide documentary >> >information, or they may give voice to silent pictures, though the >> messages that they convey in the photographic image may contradict >> >their original purpose. >> This exhibition explores the myriad uses of signs in the work of a >> range of 20th- and 21st-century photographers, from Walker Evans to >> >Lee Friedlander and Ed Ruscha. Works are drawn from the museum >> collection, loans from Paul Sack Photographic Trust, and loans from >> >private collections." > > > > Alan > > Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer > UPAA POY 1978 > University Information Technology Services > University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information