Sharon Read - Rainy Day Art

The reference to “these images” and the use of a number in the title would suggest that this is one of a series of photographs. I’d definitely like to see more. No sign of a Rain On The Pier 2 in Patternotion alas. A very good reason not to buy that particular book I’d say. Maybe other photo’s in the series are available on the web or in other publications. There’s no guarantee that any of the others will be as interesting or beautiful as this one of course. Sharon Read may have thought to herself “I peaked with my magnificent contribution to Freedbook. No point in carrying on. Anything further would be an anticlimax”.

 

Each of the 552 planks on this particular Pier has a name on it. Those of a romantic bent may enjoy inventing reasons for this perhaps involving a memorial of extreme bravery in the face of freakish weather conditions. The real reason is easily googled and actually quite mundane. The fact that one of the names on the pier seems to be ‘Simmonds Settees’ doesn’t immediately suggest seafaring heroics. Please don’t let me put you off though. A lifeboatman called Simmonds Settees could easily have lived and worked in the south of england at some stage. Who am I to suggest that this person never existed or that he/she never risked life and limb on numerous occasions to rescue others from a watery grave. It’s quite possible. At a party I was once introduced to a dental assistant named Warehouse Remnants, so you never know.

 

I always enjoy the dizzying view of the sea through the gaps between the planks on piers. I’m sure they’ve featured in my dreams a few times. In Rain On The Pier 1 you can’t actually see the waves.* The angle the photo was taken at doesn’t allow for it. The gaps just create satisfying black sloping lines. The three ovoid shapes formed by large firmly hammered nails are pleasing too. Yes. This is definitely a good argument for just buying Freedbook and ignoring all other Sampson Low publications.

 

 

 

* My inner bad poet wanted me to write  “but you can hear them!” at this point but I ignored him.

 

PKD