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In Paris, during the reign of Napoleon III, French architects used the term horror Vacui – the fear of unadorned surfaces – to explain why they provided their clients with elaborately detailed neo-baroque mansions. Things could not be plain and simple and cleanly detailed. That would remind you that life is, for the most part, a flat and dull business, quite boring actually, and if you really think about it, without much meaning. That is, of course, unbearable to contemplate. So one way to fight the deadening despair of the ordinary was to apply lots of over-the-top swoops and swirls and whatnot to whatever was at hand. It was style as a form of antidepressant.
And imagine being in today's LA – where things are supposed to be exciting and cutting edge – but where you're surrounded by the ordinary stuff that you'd find anywhere else in America. There's a depressing everydayness to it all, and out here people fight that the way the French fought that long ago in Paris. This is the LA Futon Store, South La Brea at Edgewood Place –
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A car is just a car. It gets you from one place to another, and that's so depressing – even if, out here, that car is a Mercedes or Porsche or Ferrari. It's all so utilitarian. So you might want something that's elaborately detailed and sort of neo-baroque, to ward off the curse of the meaningless ordinary. This used to be a Cadillac Seville, and now it isn't – it's an Excalibur –
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If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back to this site.
Technical Note:
These photographs were taken with a Nikon D200 – the lenses used were AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto. The high-resolution photography here was modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software.
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All text and photos unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik
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Counter added Sunday, March 25, 2007 - 11:00 am Pacific Time
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