WALLS | LA POESIE DES AFFICHES
Poesie des Affiches is a continuation of graffiti-based work I began more than ten years ago. The image entitled The Faceless Madonna is the first image in the series, shot in Madrid in 1998. I am endlessly fascinated by the layering of signage that appears in large cities, often plastered over "post no bills" signs, in languages that mirror the culture of a country. Together, these two bodies of work incorporate images from a dozen countries and every sort of street. I reframe them into tight compositions that are about texture and tonal value. Most intriguing to me is the fact that many of the events advertised have already occurred, and some are yet to come. The layering of past, present and future is what draws me to these walls again and again, as well as the graphic quality of the letters, particularly when the meaning is obscured by foreign languages. The black and white images in this series encompass and hundreds of photographs. In the last several years, I have begun to shoot them in color as well. The color versions explore the careless jumble of colors, fonts and forms created when posters are layered over one another, and the environment eventually peels away all history.