Saturday, January 22, 2011

House No. 22: McMansion


House No. 22: McMansion
Upcycled McDonald's containers
5 in. x 4 in. x 3.5 in.
022/365; 01/22/11

As if poorly built, oversized suburban architecture weren't bad enough, there is now the post-housing-crash threat that the artificial communities created to house these behemoths may fall prey to blight similar to the plague of abandon in inner-city neighborhoods during the fifties and sixties.

And yet, I keep seeing new construction everywhere. Meanwhile, for-sale and foreclosed houses keep dropping in prices and well built, historic homes decay. The insatiable need for the new and excessive drives the construction of homes and storefronts that remain empty. It seems like the perfect, unfortunate metaphor for the state of the economy.

I think that I will start collecting real-life metaphors. What are others that you have observed? I would love to see people illustrate them in their work.

3 comments:

  1. Love it! I am SO not a fan of new homes.

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  2. Poignant post.

    I'll have to think about this a bit...

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  3. Old homes are the best for character and layout plan and craftsmanship. Plus new construction is so toxic from all the chemical components and because they are airtight. (And toxic for my soul because they are hideous and poorly planned and shoddy and often have one facing on the front and then siding on the rest. Another cause of visual cancer.)

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