Christopher Gabriel – HOMEWORK #1

http://www.thomasholton.com/

One picture in particular in Thomas Ludlow’s “The Lams of Ludlow Street” captures one of many elements in graffiti culture, depicting a door with tags in various handstyles. Letters are uniquely stylized that give each tag its own form of self=expression; some have sharp,jagged edges while others are smooth and written with fluidity. The photo well portrays urban territory, providing the viewer with a sense of rawness and grit that a plain, unadulterated door would fail to do. The mood is a competitive one, as each word struggles with one another for its own space, showing the eagerness of the tagger to get his or her own name onto the surface. It’s important to note that none of them directly overlap each other, as that is considered a buff and a form of disrespect in the graffiti community.

Holton’s use of B&W takes away from what could have been a very colorful picture. I feelas though he did this in order to make each word stand out against the background of the door.It also emphasizes the sharp contrasts of tags written in white as opposed to the ones in black. My eye is immediately drawn to the writing just beneath the window as it is pronounced and directly placed in the center of the piece. The photo is a medium distance shot so as to show a decent amount of writing. He frames the photo so that the wholedoor is not seen as the wall surrounding it would take away from the true focus of the picture. These elements in relation to one another help portray the essence of urban living. The mood is subjective; to me it is nostalgic. Albeit still living here, it makes me feel at home as I have immersed and surrounded myself with graffiti since I was younger. The Lam family however, who are Chinese immigrants, may see it as a new, unique and captivating quality of the city. It is a great depiction of New York nastiness – to those initiated and unfamiliar alike.