Almost Done...kinda.

I have four images I have been working on simultaneously for the last month or so. Like the Erosion series, they all have written words under the images. The images themselves are of the Tuft's Cove Power Plant with a distorted north end view of Halifax in the foreground. I have always thought very highly of the smoke stacks. As someone who grew up near the north end the red and white stripes are kinda like comfort food for the eyes. (The hops at Oland's Brewery are the comfort food for the nose.)

You can imagine how surprised I was to see that Nova Scotia Power is actually painting the stacks! Now, instead of rusted red and dirty light gray, the stacks are again fire engine red and snow (in the country) white. They have never looked better.

Now you are probably asking yourself: What kind of an artist is this? Aren't artist's supposed to be environmentally conscious? Isn't this a symbol of what is wrong with our energy hungry society?

Yes.

I also see them more as a monument of our city. A huge monument that everyone thinks is ugly, but is actually a striking landmark of Halifax. Three great church steeples that rise from sea level and engulf our landscape. A beacon for ships that enter our port. Our Eiffel Tour.
Too often we turn our backs in order to look at the "pretty" view of downtown Halifax. I feel there is something magical about these stacks. In fact, I hope that once we resolve our dependence on energy, in particular, fossil fuels, that in 100 years time the city decides to not rip down our Eiffel Tower and instead embraces them as a part of our industrial past.