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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty: When walls speak and we listen > Rusty fire escape, Denver, Colorado, 2007
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08-JUL-2007

Rusty fire escape, Denver, Colorado, 2007

Graffiti artists have used this fire escape as their road to expression. Their embellished logos and pleas to be heard cover the lower story of this abandoned apartment house but are limited to the areas around the rusty fire escape as it climbs to the third story. The rusted metal and boarded windows tell us that this building is no longer being maintained. It has become a community bulletin board that communicates various identities in vividly expansive explosions of paint. The fire escape was once intended to save lives. Today, it has become a sounding board.

Leica D-Lux 3
1/160s f/4.0 at 6.3mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time08-Jul-2007 06:44:53
MakeLeica
ModelD-LUX 3
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length6.3 mm
Exposure Time1/160 sec
Aperturef/4
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis03-Mar-2008 00:07
Thanks, Cyndy. You are right -- instead of hearing their voices, we can see them. For some, graffiti is blight. For others art. For me, it is a blend of blight and expression. Urban art can be simultaneously destructive and yet communicative as well.
Guest 02-Mar-2008 09:14
I like the "community bulletin board" simile. In urban art, people leave behind their voices even after they've gone.
Phil Douglis12-Dec-2007 19:57
Yes, graffiti is akin to tattooing. It is a scream of identity. I agree with you about those dreams, too, Jenene.
JSWaters12-Dec-2007 07:20
I always think of graffiti as outlaw art. I recognize that alot of it is quite complex and involved, like tattoos on an architectural structure, always prompting me to ponder the dreams that could be realized with better mentoring.
Jenene
Phil Douglis14-Jul-2007 19:09
Thanks, Tricia, for your observations on graffiti. You are right -- graffiti can be statement. Because these words are sprayed illicitly, they are generally interpreted as a sign of protest or vandalism. Over the last fifty years, graffiti such as this has become a folk art as well, characterized by boldly dimensional letter forms in vivid colors and in huge scale. As I noted, they are pleas for attention. Yes, graffiti can be obscene as well. It is how many of us first learned the language of the streets. But the words on this wall are, as you note in your comment, autographical in nature.
flowsnow14-Jul-2007 15:28
Totally agree with you. Graffiti is used as a sign of `statement'. Usually on the `vulgar' note over here with swear words or even just simply vandalising the walls. Otherwise they are like authographs by foreigners who visit Malaysia.
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