I spotted this artistic canvas on the beach in Santa Barbara, at the wharf, whilst whiling away some time as my car was being serviced.
For those readers who may be unfamiliar with the locale, this entire region of southern California is generally awash with wealth, often enough exceeding any reasonable definition of ostentatious. Even the basic architecture and attendant landscape trappings seem to have an underlying current of currency as a prime nutrient.
Thus I was struck by an unexpected sense of incongruity: who knew that the impoverished exist even here? I took great delight in this impromptu studio's artist-in-residence, a warm and gregarious man roughly my age (or so it seemed to me . . . somewhat hard to tell given the unique physical erosion exacted by excessive sun and sand common to beach habitues). His genre was a minimalist confluence of economic excoriation and performance art, the latter as an implied, implored invitation to the viewer: take aim, as many times as the interest can be sustained. One has as much chance of scoring as does the average job seeker in today's market; this sculpture's statement couldn't have been more potent in its direct simplicity.
The reward for a bulls-eye? No, not to walk away with the ante, for that would be a bit too much suffering for this artist's output. Rather, for the tosser, a priceless bit of self-congratulation. (The intoxicated twenty-something hit it on his first attempt, to emphatic, supreme delight.) Alas, I never came close, but I suspect the primary motivation for this primitive "hanging" was satisfied in both cases.
In these bleak economic times that's just, well, common cents.
Try Your Luck, #6971-7D
© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.
(click image for larger version)
Details: April 27, 2012; Canon 7D; f/8 @ 1/3000 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 250;
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 16mm
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 16mm
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