Don’t Drink Tap Water

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Sean M.

• Artist Statement

  This piece focuses on the extreme, in-your-face contrast that the image presents to the viewer. With the stark white text and bright orange brick background, the “Don’t Drink Tap Water” becomes almost unreadable, causing the viewer to focus even further on the photograph to see the graffiti.

  When I was looking to create a photograph with the bricks, I almost didn’t see the writing, both because of the whiteness of the text and the physically small size of the frame, which is deliberately difficult to perceive in the picture. As a result of the close-up shot needed to capture this scene, the cracks and imperfections of the bricks are on full display, even further obscuring the text on the bricks and creating more points of interest for the viewer to focus in on.

  Additionally, the skew of the text, as opposed to making the text perfectly vertical, further purveys the graffiti/punk vibe that the phrase creates.

• Creative Statement

  To me, creativity means thinking outside the box and looking at things from a different perspective. It means using your imagination and problem solving skills to create, solve, or improve something.