Thursday, September 20, 2007

armani man

The piece entitled armani man is a glimpse of greatly contrasting lifestyles of San Francisco. Set in the backdrop of the Emporio Armani Building in San Francisco, a homeless man sits with his possessions next to the Armani garbage as if taken out with the trash. The piece exhibits a sense of voyeurism through its gaze at the man, the building, and the facade of its surroundings. Comparing the desired gaze toward the suggested richness and luxury of the clothing, to the gaze toward the man on the street, the piece questions the drastic division of wealth, while drawing attention to the surface treatments of the surrounding area that intend to cover up the poverty below. In forcing the viewer to stare at the man, the viewer is rendered incapable of ignoring the problem, of merely accepting the surroundings for its seemingly luxurious facade and high-ended culture and dismissing the individual on the street.