The Old Materials Are Still More Beautiful - Montreal Walls - Five

This building only recently underwent renovations to the outside of the building. It was covered in ugly and faded aluminum siding from the 1980s. It... more

by Mario MJ Perron

Title

The Old Materials Are Still More Beautiful - Montreal Walls - Five

Artist

Mario MJ Perron

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

This building only recently underwent renovations to the outside of the building. It was covered in ugly and faded aluminum siding from the 1980s. It must have been a pleasant surprise to uncover such beautiful bricks underneath. You may not be able to see them, but a great many repairs have been done to this wall to preserve the look of the bricks: the only obvious fixes are the repointing of the mortar and the appearance of having been washed with water, instead of the sandblasting that was once so popular. We can see the signs of age on these bricks, even the cleaner ones. What a beautiful effect to see a building of several stories all surfaced in bricks. So much warmer than the glass and metal modern structures, don't you think?

(Circa October 2019) - Back in the fall of 2019, when I was still attending classes in person and working in an office, as opposed to my Covid-free basement office, I started walking around the downtown core and noticing the subtle and beautiful effects of age on the walls of my city, Montreal. This coincided with my decision to read several books on Wabi-Sabi aesthetics and my continuously growing love for that aesthetic. The idea that beauty exists in imperfections is only the beginning of it. Time and the environment (pollution, weather, effects of humans, etc...) carve away at our attempts at perfections and paint their often simple touches to the urban landscape. These touches deliver more beauty than we normally notice, so I stopped to notice them and guess what I found?
I looked at walls in the dry, bright sunshine, in the cloudy rain, and the conditions in between them. The best days to capture the effects seem to be shortly after the rain has fallen and the sun is peaking through the clouds.

Life got busier and busier and before I knew it, Covid made it less interesting to move around as much. Let's be honest, there's something very satisfying in taking pictures of walls when other people are around. I love the looks of curiosity and confusion I get when they see me standing around and taking pictures of what must seem like random walls.

Well, it's Spring, Covid-restrictions are loosening a little and I'll be heading out for more shooting soon (I hope).

I would love all your feelings, impressions, and observations one these images, so please share them here or on my blog The New Renaissance Mindset

Prints & more available at Arts MPerron @ https://1-mario-perron.pixels.com

Uploaded

March 2nd, 2021

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