the back of the local junior high taken from the schoolyard
The comments received for this picture have been surprising, but perhaps understandable, to me. The first casual note, above, left a wrong impression. The fence surrounds the schoolyard, which is immense, and not the school itself. The metal gratings on the windows provide credible protection from objects hurled at them by the academic, uh, querulous. I did deliberately give the image a somber, harsh tone, but mainly my purpose was to highlight the interesting patterns of the overlapping layers of fence. Schoolyards in NYC are fenced in because it would be dangerous to allow kids, especially the younger kids in elementary school, to wander off on adventures or into traffic. Nothing ominous about that. In fact, I feel nostalgic about these fences, having grown up here and gone to such schools. They had wider diamonds in the spacing of the wire weave then, providing perfect toeholds for sneakers, and we'd scramble over them when necessary. A running start, jump up onto the fence, climb quickly to the top, flip over to the other side, climb part way down and drop to the ground. I did this, for example, to retrieve our ball (we called them spaldeens) when it sailed over the fence around an enclosed area while playing stickball.
But I do appreciate that it made a strong impression and some people liked it.
I'm a sucker for the texture of chainlink fence. you've also added interest by having it slightly off a direct angle. creating slight diagonals and slight perspective.
It's always absorbing to me, when reflecting on a bare-bones image like this. Without context and other guidance from the author, the beholder has only two options. (1) "This is boring" and move on, or (2) "What is this? What could it mean to the author? What does it mean to me?" and many more questions of a fanciful and philosophical nature. I am firmly in the (2) camp, as evidenced by my motto that "Curiosity is the most important thing in art". It's a sentiment that applies equally to authors of art, and beholders of art.
wow. I live in a suburb, a quite green community. A fence like this around the school would be inconceivable. At least there would be a row of plants in front of it to moderate this intimidating view
Hmm, never thought of the things were posted here. Must be a New Yorker not to be fazed by a mere fence. Could have been a picture in a Chelsea gallery, really.
...I thought it was a prison, until I read the title. My nephew would agree with my first assessment. School is such a torture for him. I feel bad for him and all his friends. Their worries are more burdensome than mine ever were at that age.
Sadly I agree with Nikki that its sad times (regardless of the fence keeping people in or out of school). That said, how did you get in the schoolyard?
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