Recently I was lucky enough to have The Artist visit me, so we indulged in Round 14 of our ongoing knock 'em down, drag 'em out "conversation" on the topic of Art versus Photography. On this occasion, I'd done some sneaky preparation, so as evidence I cited the works of m'learned colleague Pep Ventosa. Mr Ventosa is probably best known for his In The Round series, but in my opinion his best work are actually the prints he calls Collective Snapshots, particularly the set he calls Street Rhythms. As a result, I'm pretty sure I won Round 14 on points, The Artist was grudgingly impressed. Unfortunately, the outcome of all this was that I got Pep Ventosa stuck in my head again, so there was only one thing to do.
This scene will be familiar to residents of a certain city in the English Midlands: Leicester Clock Tower, (Joseph Goddard, 1868). The half timbered building on the left was Burtons Tailors. The Bovril sign above Timothy Whites was removed in the 1950s. The Sporting Success statue dates from 1988, so in all, there's 150 years of Lestah in this image. Methinks Mr Ventosa is onto something - but is it Art?
