What's up! trouvaillesdujour: Michael Eastman: Havana, where decay meets beauty

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Michael Eastman: Havana, where decay meets beauty

Michael Eastman's Havana series exposes the colorful and crumbling interiors and exteriors of Cuba's capital. The details of these pictures make them fascinating and poignant: ghostly rectangles of lighter color on walls where paintings once hung, beach chairs that stand in for finely carved furniture, laden clothes lines hanging amongst chandeliers, above intricately tiled floors. But these deteriorating rooms and facades also tell a larger story: these are the homes of the successful and rich, who were knocked off their pedestals by the revolution and whose country, abandoned by its Russian supporters and blockaded by America, still has very little in the way of material goods.

While his photographs may provoke nostalgia for the glory days of Havana, Eastman's emphasis is on the subtle grandeur of these buildings in ruin, the beauty inherent in decay.

Michael Eastman is a self taught photographer, known for his large-scale photographs of the world's most beautiful cities including Rome, Paris, and New Orleans. He lives in St. Louis.

Michael Eastman's Havana series is currently on exhibit at Michael Hoppen Contemporary, UK.

Michael Eastman

Havana

Michael Eastman: Havana

Michael Hoppen Gallery, London

February 13th to March 16th, 2013

1 comment:

UnknownFebruary 21, 2013 at 2:11 PM
Yes, I've been to Havana and that is the Havana I remember. Eastman captured it perfectly. A wonderful mix of contradictions and paradoxes. That make it poignant to observe and be around.
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