Thanks Hans, I'm glad you were able to extract something from this shot.
It was a very quick snatch on the pavement, and seemed so bizarre I just couldn't pass it up.
I like the suggestiveness, the richness of relations in this photo. I see painting vs. photography, image vs. reality, framing (limitation) vs. totality, magic vs. plain experience. On the meta level our theme (portrayal) and the imitative and alienating function of art is alluded to. Finally, I understand the false promise ("looking good") as a reference to the criticism of art as "mere illusion" (since Plato's times) and the broken frame as symbolizing the brokenness of the artist and/or the dubious nature of his doing. In German we have the idiom "aus dem Rahmen fallen", literally "fall out of the frame", meaning "to be off the beaten track". Art often falls out of the frame – this photo makes a subject of discussion out of it, and hits the nail on the head.
HansAlbert
