Fernand Léger came first.
Cities run like machines are run by machines. Léger’s squares, tubes, joins,
and fittings were the mechanisms cities adopted, transformed by necessity –
discs, frames, rivets and capsules – into charms of new environments. Miles of
shopfronts with their same cantilevers, signs, locks and displays are
summarised prophetically in ‘Milk Bar/Newsagent’. A work that shocked the
bourgeoisie now looks like a road-plan for lifestyle. Likewise the high-speed
rise of automobiles was unknown to Léger when he painted ‘Jaunty July Jalopy’.
Now its stylish background layers resemble high-rise carparks of our
consumerist sprawl. Which came first, space or gasoline?
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