Tall Figures (29 images)

“Tall Figures” is an exploration of commercialized seduction on an urban scale. It is a phenomenon seemingly localized to Soho in its density and scale. No where else in the city does one find such a high number of mostly fashion oriented ad hoc billboards. These are the same pictures found in any self respecting fashion magazine, just revisited through their gigantic size. Pages are replaced by building facades, which become place holders, frames for the photographs.
...
more »

“Tall Figures” is an exploration of commercialized seduction on an urban scale. It is a phenomenon seemingly localized to Soho in its density and scale. No where else in the city does one find such a high number of mostly fashion oriented ad hoc billboards. These are the same pictures found in any self respecting fashion magazine, just revisited through their gigantic size. Pages are replaced by building facades, which become place holders, frames for the photographs.
Billboards are a common site in most urban areas. In Manhattan, just foray up to Time Square to witness the seizure inducing aray of mammoths LED billboards, drapping the surrounding equally imposing buildings. Travel downtown to Soho and you will encounter another type of oversized displays, particular to that neighborhood. “They” are watching us. Manufactured modern muses are looking down upon us. Tall and slender, they rival the buildings upon which they rest. Sex and seduction on a truly grand scale. The difference with Time Square is that here, they have been improvised. They hang or are painted on the sides of buildings never originally intended for such use. Surprisingly, the painted ones are often renewed more frequently than the ones printed on canvases hanging from the top of the buildings, often with cut outs to uncover the windows that they would otherwise block. Over the past ten years or so, this trend has grown at an exponential rate and shows no sign of slowing down, to the contrary.
Since size does matter after all, it gives those pictures a mythical presence. You are to buy into the dream, so prominently presented to you. The advertisement industry has a bright future ahead of itself; in urban (re)design. Blade Runner, here we come.

This is an ongoing series.
Photographs by Thierry Gourjon.
Soho, New York. 2020.
« less