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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty-Seven: How using words in pictures can expand meaning > Hearst Building, San Francisco, California, 2007
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07-JUN-2007

Hearst Building, San Francisco, California, 2007

The Market Street home of William Randolph Hearst's publishing empire was in this building, which was designed by the famed architect Julia Morgan in 1909, and renovated in 1937. The ornamental grillwork over its front door brings a touch of deco nostalgia into the 21st century. I create an incongruity by juxtaposing this ornamental entry to the Hearst Building with a kiosk featuring an advertisement for men’s cosmetics. Just as Morgan created an ornamental screen for the building, the reflections in the curved glass of the kiosk offer a shimmering screen of light and shadow for the smoldering portrait behind it.
The entire image comes together, however, because of the words on the kiosk. The name of the city authenticates the scene – giving it a sense of place and identity.

Leica V-Lux 1
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Phil Douglis22-Jun-2007 18:25
Yes -- ennui is the word here, Ceci. Thanks for putting him into a time machine, and seeing the reflections as the blur of time. Yet he looks too bored to really care very much about wherever he may be.
Guest 22-Jun-2007 17:56
Ooooo, time travel! This bored, sleek, modern young man encapsulated and streaking past in his machine, gazing out in total ennui at the florid, highly decorated, classical past! What a wonderful contrast, indeed!
Phil Douglis21-Jun-2007 17:53
Thanks, Jenene -- it is that sensual combination of textures that gives this image its contrast and tension and much of its incongruity. And its the words "San Francisco" that offers a sense of place and identity to go with the smoldering romantic ad.
JSWaters21-Jun-2007 03:35
Very evocative of a past era. The richness of the screen next to the slick, shiny kiosk is such a sensual combination of textures. The smoldering portrait only adds to the feelings of decadence and romance of San Francisco's history.
Jenene
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