I took this picture in Sydney, with several things in my mind. I have always been intrigued by advertisements filling odd spaces in the city. Regardless how I hate being disrupted by a commercial tip I don’t need, some of these can play well against otherwise dull cityscape, and flourishes unexpected art.
This is the back of a state owned bus. From this angle it looks like a strange domino stone, almost flat, but playful, as if just rolled down.
But something else struck me later. This picture also captures aggressiveness of commercialism. The advertisement uses every bit of space left out from the license plate, the number of the bus, warning signs and indicators. It is funny in one sense, and scary in another.
We look at art because we expect to be inspired. We look at advertisements because we can’t avoid them. Art is a choice, advertisements are not.
But Marketing came a long way. Modern Marketing, no longer being naive, realises attention grabbing is not everything. By imitating Art it tries to have free access to our emotions. This picture, with its mild colour palette, good use of area alignment and adherence to one third rule, shows a careful crossing between commercialism and Art. Perhaps after all we can live with it. Do we have a choice anyway?
