The common or garden fence post echoes the ancient Totem, or Obelisk, marking the edge of claimed territory to turn away evil spirits, caution invaders, and obstruct strangers.
The posts we see are prefabricated concrete with a metal rod reinforcement for duration.The Images portray the gradual erosion of the posts. Thus, the corroding posts guard the eternal Idea, that is, the ownership of the separated space.
The sentinel posts stand in line, depended on, yet subject to the seasonal elements which gradually wear away the smooth surface into visions shaped by Time. The human eye deciphers faces on the irregular exterior, grotesque, entwined, full of emotion, gazing out blindly and imprisoned in silence. They are the denizens from the deep end of the Mind which peer out into the space beyond the retina in anticipation. What we see is who we are, in our response.
The erosion of the posts speaks of the impermanence of things, in other words things are mortal and crumble as we humans do eventually...The eternal idea is not concrete, not solid, but an unchanging IDEA, . The Idea is just as inert as the concrete posts, only the posts erode into dust not the official claim, registered and issued by the State which also outlasts a human lifetime. The presence of human mortality is expressed in the visions of faces which no animal or insect would ever notice. It is a human trait to see figures and faces in stains on the wall or even in cloud formations.
The images of freaky faces, figures and animals we see in a stain on the wall, in the clouds, or in an eroded concrete surface, are psychic phenomena, projections from the human unconscious mind... That's why they always seem to be freaky or scary. They are classified as supernatural , as in, Super = above nature (Latin), superficial, superior, superstitious, supervisor...Thus, the freaky faces are not really welcome, they are what we don't want to even think exist.
I think that is why they always show up when we least expect them. Once we have seen them, that's all we see because they originate from within us, evidence of our imagination. Not everyone sees the same thing, and some can see even more. The Romans were acquainted with these apparitions of nature and called them grotesques. They even designed grottos, small clearings in the woods near a. Stream, or a cave, decorated with sculptures of grotesque figures to awaken us to the supernatural spirit world. I would classify this phenomenon with Cosmology,Mythology, Archetypes, legends and fairy stories.
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The post is like a soldier who faints at the parade....not vertical! Het Moet!! Dat is de wet! The post has fallen to the side, weak foundation, the concrete so decayed the skeleton structure is exposed and rusting. The elements are fierce to matter as time is to a human beings life. The posts deviation from the stable vertical is the death of its function, which is, to guard the property. The ownership claim still stands as an eternal idea because the authority that granted ownership is eternal in the sense that it outlasts a single lifetime to verify the claim after his/her death. The concrete posts are only the material evidence of this transcendental authority we know as The State.
In the allegory of Plato's cave the light that casts shadows onto the wall comes through from behind the eyes looking outwards, namely the eternal soul. In our times that light is the domain of the State, all the regulations, stipulations, sanctions and terminations, the granting of rights and the removal of rights, determination of taxation, and in relation to the Law the right to decide innocence or guilt.
The cloth behind the post serves the same function of soft background focus to draw our attention to the subject which stands out in complete sharpness and clarity of detail.
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Alan Bell
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