I can imagine walking past this house and thinking it a charming splash of garishness, below a sea of grey slate roofs and the grey Atlantic sky. But this framing, by shutting out any of that relief, turns the garishness up to 11.
So why do I find the photograph beautiful? A lot to do with its composition, no doubt. (Which includes two or three or even more golden sections?) And something to do with subtle adjustments to colour balance in the studio, perhaps. Is the biggest factor, though, the framing — the perceptual framing, that is?
Those high production values inveigle us into seeing what we (the “we” who look at art photographs, anyway) would normally think of as artless — as art. And we tend to be more helplessly moved by this transfiguring process, I think, than by any interpretation of canonically great architecture (e.g. Chris Bertram’s own fine photograph of the Pantheon, featured here a few months ago).
William berry, a number of villages and small towns across ireland are painted in such a manner. (Although going by the following pics this seems to be the city?) My understanding is it’s mainly a result of the irish tourist board trying to make them more aesthetically pleasing, and encouraging local, civic participation in maintenance through things like the tidy towns competition. My impression is it’s most prevalent in the west (cork and Kerry in particular), though not solely. Some of The villages around where I grew up had a similar, though less coordinated, aesthetic quality (ie two thirds or so participated, but there were a few holdouts due to contrariness and a general oppositional nature)
Rural Ireland can be a pretty idiosyncratic place (well, it was in my youth at least). I recall coming across a cottage deep in rural Sligo which was painted this shade of pink with black trim. The standout feature was that the proud owner had extended the paintwork to the slates on the roof – a patchwork of pink and black like some giant liquorice allsort.
{ 17 comments }
Barry Freed 05.29.16 at 9:54 am
Looks like painted wood to me.
I’ll just get my coat…
NomadUK 05.29.16 at 11:50 am
Lovely.
William Berry 05.29.16 at 3:13 pm
It looks like la puerta verde* in Rosetta Stone.
*And la puerta abierta, cerrada, grande, etc.
William Berry 05.29.16 at 3:16 pm
So, that is Cork, as in Ireland? I swear I have seen the exact same door in Callao/ Lima, Peru more than once.
rea 05.29.16 at 4:24 pm
The presence of hidden messages on the wall is kind of cool.
Donald A. Coffin 05.29.16 at 4:44 pm
Wow. Amazing color.
NickM 05.29.16 at 5:13 pm
I can imagine walking past this house and thinking it a charming splash of garishness, below a sea of grey slate roofs and the grey Atlantic sky. But this framing, by shutting out any of that relief, turns the garishness up to 11.
So why do I find the photograph beautiful? A lot to do with its composition, no doubt. (Which includes two or three or even more golden sections?) And something to do with subtle adjustments to colour balance in the studio, perhaps. Is the biggest factor, though, the framing — the perceptual framing, that is?
Those high production values inveigle us into seeing what we (the “we” who look at art photographs, anyway) would normally think of as artless — as art. And we tend to be more helplessly moved by this transfiguring process, I think, than by any interpretation of canonically great architecture (e.g. Chris Bertram’s own fine photograph of the Pantheon, featured here a few months ago).
Ronan(rf) 05.29.16 at 5:26 pm
William berry, a number of villages and small towns across ireland are painted in such a manner. (Although going by the following pics this seems to be the city?) My understanding is it’s mainly a result of the irish tourist board trying to make them more aesthetically pleasing, and encouraging local, civic participation in maintenance through things like the tidy towns competition. My impression is it’s most prevalent in the west (cork and Kerry in particular), though not solely. Some of The villages around where I grew up had a similar, though less coordinated, aesthetic quality (ie two thirds or so participated, but there were a few holdouts due to contrariness and a general oppositional nature)
PJW 05.29.16 at 5:26 pm
Love the ghost sign/palimpsest.
The Raven 05.29.16 at 10:27 pm
This is quite lovely. Thank you.
May I ask what the lighting conditions were when you captured the image?
Alan White 05.29.16 at 11:29 pm
The door makes this picture for me. The central placement of the knob/knocker makes it into a winking face.
William Berry 05.30.16 at 12:01 am
@Ronan: Interesting, thnx.
Dave 05.30.16 at 5:10 am
Very cool. Love how the effaced graffiti balances (fails to balance) the door.
Chris Bertram 05.30.16 at 7:39 am
@Raven, it was a bright sunny day, but the wall itself was not in direct sunlight.
Kalkaino 05.31.16 at 12:16 am
Great shot. Psychedelic.
Trout 06.01.16 at 3:47 pm
Rural Ireland can be a pretty idiosyncratic place (well, it was in my youth at least). I recall coming across a cottage deep in rural Sligo which was painted this shade of pink with black trim. The standout feature was that the proud owner had extended the paintwork to the slates on the roof – a patchwork of pink and black like some giant liquorice allsort.
Niall McAuley 06.02.16 at 3:33 pm
Trout – owner a nice little old lady, perhaps? Oven needed cleaning?
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