7 December 2012

It's The 500th Post; Heres A Picture that Launches A Masthead...

It's the 500th post on The Amazo Effect (no need to count them, honest) and as regular viewers have no doubt noticed, the masthead has been changed:


Fear not Ray Mumford lovers, the classic masthead will return. Eagle-eyed viewers may have wondered about the 'L' plate on the Ford Zodiac; well anyone that knows the origin of the artwork will know the story that will unfold with that car...


Truth is, we plan to have more temporary banners (like the Senna week one) to suit the mood. Banners like this, for example:


Well enough of being the little teases; let's get down to business, namely where the picture behind the current banner came from. It's stirred a lot of interest on various car forums in the last couple of weeks due to it's car content. But that's not why the photo exists; the clues are there in the picture for all to see - clues that are Cher and Eddie Money-shaped...


The automotive content of the picture is a bit of a red herring as the subject of the the book in question is something else altogether. Rock N' Roll Billboards Of The Sunset Strip, is a book by photographer Robert Landau, an amazing photo collection of billboards dotted around Los Angeles that Landau has taken over the course of 40 years or so. Now a book about billboards sounds about as interesting as a Reggie Wilson Greatest Hits album, but when the billboards in question are hand painted adverts for musical artists latest album release, artist like Marvin Gaye, Bruce Springsteen and the Beatles, to name a few.


You may not consider a billboard to be art, but back in the day, many of them were unique one-offs, as altough they were based on a given subject, they were painted in situ and no two were alike. Today, Robert Landau's photos are all that remain of this ephemeral street art.





Looks like we're buying an early Christmas present.


No comments:

Post a Comment