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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Sixty One: Signs as symbols > For Sale, Miami, Arizona, 2011
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14-APR-2011

For Sale, Miami, Arizona, 2011

I found this old gas pump for sale in an antique store window. There are two “For Sale” signs in this image – the price of “this sale” on the pump itself, and the attached price of the old pump itself. The gas sale forever remains free, while the tag for the pump asks for $2,800. A third price is included at the bottom of the frame – the last delivery of gasoline to this pump was priced at 29 cents a gallon. (Those were days when there were no dollar signs imprinted next to the gallon price.) I found the price differentials here to be both incongruous and thought provoking. We can’t buy any gas anywhere for 29 cents a gallon these days, yet we are asked here to spend nearly $3,000 for a vintage gas pump.

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Phil Douglis23-May-2011 01:51
Thanks, Iris. I made this image to satirize the high price of gas today by calling attention to the low price of gas at the time this pump was shut down forever. As for the "useless pump," it may no longer pump gas, but if it finds a buyer at nearly $3,000, it certainly is still productive.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)22-May-2011 00:16
A gas pump that won't pump gas.........a metaphor for those who can't afford the exorbitant prices of gasoline today, let alone the exorbitant price of this useless pump. Given the current economy, this takes nostalgia a bit too far.
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