zion national park, utah
talking heads, “the big country”
from: More songs about buildings and food, 1978
Punk art photographer Jimmy De Sana was the man behind the cover for Talking Heads' 1978 album, More Songs About Buildings and Food. As a seminal figure in the anti-art movement, he never played by the rules with his photography, and this was no exception.
For More Songs About Buildings and Food, De Sana - along with Talking Heads' David Byrne - created a fantastic photomosaic. He took hundreds of close-up Polaroid shots of the band, then organized them into a 23x23 grid. The 529 shots he ended up using assembled into a bizarre, distorted view of the band.
Unlike modern photomosaicking, which can be done through computers, De Sana's work was a manual process. He used mismatched photos, combining overexposed shots with natural-looking shots. This is why one square appears unusually bright, while an adjacent square appears normal. He slightly misaligned several shots, making faces, arms, shirts and legs look off-kilter.
-from the dark web-
“I see the shapes
I remember from maps
I see the shoreline
I see the whitecaps
A baseball diamond
Nice weather down there
I see the school
And the houses where the kids are
Places to park
By the fac’tries and buildings
Restaurants and bars
For later in the evening
Then we come to the farmlands
And the undeveloped areas
And I have learned
How these things work together
I see the parkway
That passes through them all
And I have learned
How to look at these things and I say
I wouldn’t live there if you paid me
I wouldn’t live like that, no siree
I wouldn’t do the things the way those people do
I wouldn’t live there if you paid me to
I guess it’s healthy
I guess the air is clean
I guess those people
Have fun with their neighbors and friends
Look at that kitchen
And all of that food
Look at them eat it
I guess it tastes real good
They grow it in those farmlands
Then they bring it to the store
They put it in the car trunk
Then they bring it back home and I say
I wouldn’t live there if you paid me
I wouldn’t live like that, no siree
I wouldn’t do the things the way those people do
I wouldn’t live there if you paid me to
I’m tired of looking
Out the window of the airplane
I’m tired of traveling
I want to be somewhere
It’s not even worth talking
About those people down there
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, ga, ga, ga
Goo, goo, goo, goo
Ga, ga, ga, ga”
