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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty: When walls speak and we listen > Garage, Zagreb, Croatia, 2005
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05-SEP-2005

Garage, Zagreb, Croatia, 2005

Two conflicting layers of expression are layered on top of this ornate metal garage door in downtown Zagreb. A larger-than-life graffiti signature embraces a small “no parking sign”. One is a command. The other is a defiant answer to that command, in eight feet high and 15 feet wide screaming red letters! (Inspired, no doubt, by the red “X” in the no parking sign.) I thought it an incongruous match-up, and eventually was able to ensnare a pair of passers-by within the huge logo. They are oblivious to the clash of ideas going on just behind them. Yet the red shoes worn by one of them extends the effect of the graffiti into the foreground, making her a graphic accomplice.

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Phil Douglis17-Apr-2006 06:10
I agree. Graffiti is not beautiful. But it can express ideas and feelings, rightly or wrongly.
Guest 19-Mar-2006 17:33
You can just see how democracy has embraced Croatia and Serbia, with grefitti now ruining our cities' landscapes, but if you can find beauty in that then enjoy.
Phil Douglis07-Oct-2005 23:36
Thanks, Rod and Tim, for your comments. Yes, I did wait for people to pass by -- I shot numerous images of this situation, and the red shoes did it for me. And Tim, I see the "gate of hell" metaphor here as well -- it is as if a white hot fire simmers just behind that door, and the flames are enveloping these oblivious people.
Tim May05-Oct-2005 17:00
Perhaps it is my mood - but I have a very different "read" on this image and it comes from the slash of white light beneath the door. This leads me to feelings of hades and the graffiti seems like flames.
Guest 04-Oct-2005 18:22
This is a great example for this gallery, Phil. When I first saw it I was reminded of your representative photo ("Storefront") for your "using frames" gallery. This has the same feel to it. Did the people happen to be walking past this wall at the time you found it, or did you find this wall first and waited for people to walk past at the right spot?
Phil Douglis03-Oct-2005 16:29
Thanks, Kal. I agree. Color linkage can make or break a picture. To see color, we must think color. All the time. I shot a number of people walking past this wall, but kept on shooting until somebody wearing red finally arrived. The blurred red straps on her sandals were enough to make this shot come together. I am glad you agree with me on the need for foreground perspective here.
Kal Khogali03-Oct-2005 11:42
I guess we read images as we feel them. I must say that you prove one important point overall in this image from a artistically technical point of view. Colour links can be quite powerful in terms of linking subjects in a picture. This image as you say would never have been as strong with say...blue shoes. In terms of detail, and that ultimately is what an image returns to when we get over the abstraction, I believe the foreground in tis case is required for depth. Alister's point about the UN sign (a testimony to his eye for detail) makes this image even more powerful. Whichever inspired the other, the X over the UN graffitti (clearly originally meant as art and support for that organisation, since there is nothing to suggest otherwise) creates an amusing poltical statement, intended or otherwise.
Phil Douglis02-Oct-2005 20:59
Thanks, Alister. You might have misunderstood my reference to the parking sign. I was humorously referring to the color of the no parking sign inspiring the color of the graffiti. Thanks for deciphering the letters, too -- perhaps it is a reference to the UN's involvement in Croatia's recent history. As for the grill in the foreground, it adds a sense of depth and perspective to the image. I do not see it as a distraction -- it provides contrast and context for the strange door and the people who walk before it.
alibenn02-Oct-2005 07:04
More to this than meets the eye!! Firstly, I don't think the grafitti was inspired by the no parking sign, as the parking sign is on top of the logo, maybe the former inspired the latter.

Secondly, the letters say UN, I wonder if this is some statement for or against the UN presense in Croatia?

Thirdly, if it were mine, I'd crop the bottom grill off, other than adding a bit of depth it serves no other purpose and detracts from the statement and colour-play in the rest of the image..
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