Legacy buildings of Vancouver are under attack
Vancouver is losing its heritage at an alarming rate. As you are reading this, beautiful turn of the century homes are being razed to make way for high-rises and plain grey boxes with no character. Even the trees are being torn out. At other locations old commercial buildings are being demolished for the same reasons. Is this really what the people of Vancouver want?
Burnaby, BC, Canada / ACCESSWIRE / June 17, 2014 / It's been said that the beauty of old Europe knows no equal. A walk around Vancouver at night proves that to be incorrect. Even before the camera Vincent knew: "It often seems to me that the night is much more alive and richly colored than the day."
Vancouver artist John Crittenden also knows. A master of the limited palette, John is once again combining his long career of painting early Canadian history with his second love, night photography. His present ongoing work is a unique record of old Vancouver fading slowly into the night of history. It seems a fitting marriage.
Night photography, more properly called available light photography, puts a kinder, gentler face on a sometimes harsh world. It is becoming John's favorite medium. "Normal places become sanctuaries after the sun sets, offering old memories in the new language of the night. Time seems to stand still during these hours and the harsh sounds of the day fall silent."
He has no end of subjects. All across Canada one can see beautiful old barns and ranch houses off in one corner of a field just sitting there, slowly sinking back into the land. Magnificent old homes and commercial buildings of Vancouver are suffering an even quicker fate to make room for progress.
"Vancouver needs to step back from its frantic pace to take a look at what is being lost. If it continues at its present rate Vancouver will soon be nothing but drab cement office buildings with fancy front doors and no character. When our heritage is gone its gone forever. It seems like we are being cut off from the past on purpose and memory of our history is lost forever. Is that the kind of world we want our children to live in?"
Since reversing macular degeneration and regaining his sight John understands how fleeting everything can be. "One minute you're healthy and seeing your world normally, the next you're told you are blind and there is nothing that can be done about it. I'm reminded of a poem about time wasted. Even a fourteen hour day seems too short now."
Images associated with this news release: A walk around Vancouver at Night
Google: Vancouver heritage homes being demolished
John Crittenden has painted the history of western Canada for 51 years, producing and selling more than 1,200 paintings and countless limited edition prints. His work can be see at PaintedTurtleArtPrints.ca, a Canadian publishing and marketing company in the printing and fine art industries dedicated to promoting the work of living Canadian artists who record the history of Canada.
CONTACT:
John Crittenden
(604) 421-1085
http://www.PaintedTurtleArtPrints.ca
SOURCE: Painted Turtle Art Prints