Ice Cream Shop, Greenwich Village, New York City, 2006 photo

Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Nine: Juxtaposition – compare and contrast for meaning > Ice Cream Shop, Greenwich Village, New York City, 2006

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07-AUG-2006

Ice Cream Shop, Greenwich Village, New York City, 2006

Life imitates art in this layered juxtaposition of a woman sipping a chocolate milk shake. She is oblivious to the similar pleasures depicted in the painting just behind her. I made this image from the street, shooting through a large window in the shop’s door. I included the frame of the door as a foreground layer, which makes the viewer even more of an observer. This juxtaposition of reality and fantasy tells us that the pleasure of refreshment is a blend of both.

Leica D-Lux 2
1/160s f/4.0 at 8.7mm iso100 hide exif

Full EXIF Info
Date/Time	07-Aug-2006 11:01:43
Make	Leica
Model	D-LUX2
Flash Used	No
Focal Length	8.7 mm
Exposure Time	1/160 sec
Aperture	f/4
ISO Equivalent	100
Exposure Bias	-0.33
White Balance	(10)
Metering Mode	multi spot (3)
JPEG Quality	(6)
Exposure Program	program (2)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Phil Douglis		18-Aug-2006 19:58
Speechless indeed, Augustinus. The quiet pleasure of refreshment takes precedence over talk in both the fantasy figure and the real woman.

Phil Douglis		16-Aug-2006 20:44
As expressive photographers, Ai Li, we are always walking the line between expressing reality on one hand yet triggering fantasies in the imaginations of our viewers on the other hand. In fact, ultimately photographs themselves are interpretations or representations of reality, and cannot be "real" in themselves. Thanks for bringing up this point, Ai Li. And thank you, Ceci, for revealing still more visual treasures in this image. I did not see the ice cream in the painting as a "perfect little breast with red nipple" -- it was an ice cream cone with a cherry on top. But that is the power of expression -- if that painting makes you imagine a breast, more power to your imagination! And thanks, too, for calling attention to the role of line as it flows along the painting and then along the woman seated before it -- they are unified by that line. And you are right, both figures are legless, trapped together forever. The juxtapositions of cone and dress, come-on and chastity, and opposing expressions enrich the image, and play against the silence you mention in the empty sign and quiet woman.

Guest		16-Aug-2006 07:37
Such a sinuous, serpentine line is created by the cartoon and the seated woman, with both of the figures' legs partially hidden. I love the drawn ice cream, a perfect little breast with red nipple, the cone echoing the deep V of the dress below, the come-on of the drawn girl and the chasteness of the one below; and two such different expressions while slurping icy confections! There is something Oriental about the seated woman, while the cartoon feels very American. The empty word bubble perfectly reflects the silence and stillness of the reall woman, and all the verticals seem to provide a momentary hideaway, where she can sit with her thoughts.

AL		16-Aug-2006 07:00
What's reality and what's fantasy? So much similarities yet differences. Even when come to deep thoughts or speech, we often toss to and fro between what's real and what's not. Very well seen and juxtaposed, Phil.

Phil Douglis		15-Aug-2006 20:20
Thanks, Andrea, for pointing out still more juxtapositions here -- the pleated skirt and the pleaty-frill, the verticality of both the door frame and the junction of the orange and white walls, and the expressions of the eyes. And of course both painting and woman are in the process of bringing a cool treat to their respective lips. I guess the ultimate juxtaposition is the contrast of living woman to painted one -- reality and fantasy. Thanks for helping to illuminate this image for all of us, Andrea.

Guest		15-Aug-2006 16:47
I love the repeated details between the painting and the woman below: blue and blue, pleated skirt and pleaty-frill surrounding the top of the woman's arm, the straight white line of the corner of the wall behind, and the straight white door frame in front, the expressions of the eyes -- Repetition combined with the contrast between a living woman and a painted one.

Phil Douglis		13-Aug-2006 22:46
Thanks, Shirley -- I should have used "Speechless" as my title!

Shirley Wang		13-Aug-2006 22:30
Amusing image. I didn't realize that's a speech balloon but thought of it as a window first. "Speechless"!

Phil Douglis		13-Aug-2006 22:18
I was hoping someone would see the significance of the blank speech balloon, Tim. It is still another important juxtaposition -- the lady in the poster is talking, but neither the woman or the viewer can hear her. Nor, as you say, can we read the woman's thoughts as she sips her shake.

Tim May		13-Aug-2006 19:37
The woman seem to me to be deep in thought - though that will never be know to us the view - this is confirmed, for me, by the blank cartoon speech balloon on painting.

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