Saturday, 20 December 2014

The Geometry Of Danger



Here are two images culled from my archives of relatively recent photographs.  Each was taken as incidental aside to a completely different subject.  Each also combines a variety of functional, metallic geometry with an element of hazard graphics.  However, they differ markedly in several other respects.


Keep Off:  Rugby, Warwickshire, November 2014



The first is somewhat expressionistic, and evokes an almost Punkish element of threat.  I'm always drawn to these bald, 'Danger Of Death' statements, whenever I encounter them.  I like their lack of H&S bullshit, and the no-nonsense, illustrations that are usually included.  Ultimately, all that forbidding spikiness has our own interests at heart.



Keep Out: Central Leicester, April 2014


The second is far more ambiguous, and largely about Minimalism, and abstract formalism generally.  There's a synthetic gaiety about the taped hazard stripes, which reminds me of the more abstract end of Pop Art somehow, (Richard Smith - perhaps?).  Only later, do I notice the slight hint of implied bondage.  In fact, this one implies exclusion for different reasons, and seems more about fortification as a territorial statement, than any attempt to protect the reckless.




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