Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Colours on the ordinary


Passing by, minding my own business along Totara Ave in New Lynn today, I realised I was passing by colourful background.

The 1925 Oag's Building, the facade long grey and darkened by time, has a splash of hues on its street frontage. Next to the chippie are a couple of different roller doors.




Well done to whoever painted these, especially the "shop" one (above), lending the illusion of an old-fashioned recessed doorway complete with display windows. This must have been done since the shared-space here was opened in early September this year -- the Auckland Transport page on it has a photo showing just bare roller doors, no artwork on them at all.

This block is likely to be completely redeveloped as part of wider plans for New Lynn Centre, so -- this artwork may well be much more ephemeral than most of its kind. A pity, that.

7 comments:

  1. Much preferable to our versions, bare metal with graffiti tagging.

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  2. I think the shopfront trompe-l'oeil is great, but isn't it a bit sad that shop owners feel the need to protect their premises with Asian-style steel roller doors? You never saw these in the Auckland I grew up in. I wonder whether this development reflects Auckland's changing demography or the state of law and order in the place.

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  3. I think those shops are empty, Dennis, which is why the roller doors are down during the day. The trend for roller-door security has been noticeable in Auckland for some time now, since at least the 1980s. Thing of the times, unfortunately.

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  4. Damn good effort they've made and a lovely sight on what could otherwise have been plain ugly :)

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  5. It looks good to brighting up a old building
    any more history on new lynn would be much welcome

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  6. Cheers, Josh. There's been a bit on the blog already -- more to come.

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