A Previous Life
A note on ‘A Previous Life,’ by Jim Coudal: There was a building there. There
will be a building there. In between, Marshall Sokoloff was pointing his camera straight down, composing. He took these photos over six weeks in September and October of 2002 in Toronto.
In the life of this plot of land, this is a temporary condition, this two-dimensional state, filled with cracks and gravel and textures and chipping paint. The straight lines and sharp angles are the remnants of a previous life. Marshall found a present-tense there and has documented it in sweet, mathematical compositions.
Light and tone are important. The series has a lovely feel, like the end of the day, but it’s the cropping within the camera that appeals to me. His balancing and editing of shapes within the frame’s rectangle can be seen as an exercise. Each picture in the series answers the same set of structural questions in a slightly different manner. Collectively, the series seems more musical than anything else, like variations on a simple, precise melody.
TODAY’S FEATURE
Many people hope to be authors, even some in the publishing business.
JESSICA FRANCIS KANE goes back to a monastery to see both sides of the story.
Cause and Effect
Matthew Baldwin investigates the grand tradition of gratitude.
NEWSLETTER
More addictive than heroin, more challenging than Sudoku:
the TMN Map Quiz, delivered hot, fresh, and diabolical to your inbox every Friday.
» SIGN UP
DIGEST
The Second City citizen’s eponymous magazine, which initially ran from 1926 to 1935, is revived in the form of a well-produced, well-illustrated coffee table book.
