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Mandy Martin, Puritjarra 2, 2005. For further information on MANDY MARTIN, refer here: http://www.mandy-martin.com/
If there are diverse kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing place, then we need to learn to value the different ways each of us sees a single place that is significant, but differently so, for each perspective.
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Suburban Aesthetics « Previous | |Next »
July 30, 2007

The suburbs would not exist without the road and car. One an expression of central public good, the other a self-contained box of individualism and personal space. The colourless banality of asphalt is often rendered in contrast to the bright colours and consistent industrial shapes of the automobile. Jeffrey Smart would be pleased with these compositions.

Roushraven's Z06 via corvetteforum.

| Posted by cam at 8:56 AM | | Comments (3)
Comments

Comments

Cam,
what do they ride like? Do you own one? I like the idea of a suburban aesthetic---a post here

I just love the red.

I have a black C5. They ride like a sports car. I am a bit of a fan of American automotive muscle ;)

I have been meaning to take some photos of suburbia here, folks that live in Castle Hill or NW Sydney would recognise it immediately even though the construction materials are different.

Cam,
The lingering close-ups lovingly trace the smooth curves and polished chrome of the vehicle not only define it as an object of sexual desire, but, more importantly, invite us to privilege the literal fetishization of commodities as a source of erotic pleasure in fast capitalism

My knowledge of US suburbia comes from:
(1)Bill Owens Suburbia.

(2) the New Topographics movement, particularly the work of Robert Adams and Lewis Blatz: namely, the Adams portfolio that documents the ruinous development of the Denver metropolitan area from promised land to banal suburbia. The Baltz images taken in 1978 and 1979 document the construction of Park City, Utah.

These photographic sources are pretty old, but if we place with in them, then your image signifies the car as freedom and excitement in a closed world of suburbia. Privatized mobility is the best (and only) strategy for changing the role of space in our lives from a banal, unremarkable and even constraining force into a resource for excitement, stimulation and empowerment.