Tuesday, January 12, 2010

11 - Andrew Ryan's Opposite Number

This is a picture I snapped a few days ago near the city harbour in Victoria, British Columbia.  Videogame enthusiasts may see a resemblance to the lighthouse at the beginning of "Bioshock" (2K Games, 2007).  The lighthouse in the game is at the very peak of Rapture, a fictional and very deadly city designed by a visionary named Andrew Ryan. 

I was interested in the momentary opposites that I thought were apparent in this composition.  Many artists generate visual appeal through the aesthetic placement of opposites.  For example, the straight lines of the monolith versus the rounded puffiness of the clouds, the orange hue of the sunset against the deep blue of the sky (colour wheel opposites, if you follow basic art theory), and so on. 

One opposite that is not apparent in the picture is that Ryan's fictional tower is in the middle of the ocean and it leads to the game levels below, whereas this real tower is land-locked and leads to a tourist information center.  Maybe inside there is a secret passage to underworld adventure...