Thomas Locke Hobbs

Currently: Buenos Aires

Car's Shop on Avenida Warnes

One afternoon trying to get to Belgrano I took the wrong bus and went past this stretch of auto parts stores on Avenida Warnes and was struck by their bright colors and over-sized graphics. I returned on a quiet, cloudy Sunday morning when all was closed and I could photograph in peace. I particularly liked this store's facade. For me the triple repetition of the logo recalls the pyramidal composition of Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks as well as subtly following the contour of the roof. And hey, when your logo is a baby chick, why not repeat it three times?

I seem to be on a yellow kick lately. I was struck by the graffiti, "Soy Puto, Soy de Racing" Translation: "I'm a faggot, I'm a fan of Racing" [A local soccer team]. I assume this was written by a fan of a rival team rather than some queer liberation minded football fan wishing to claim a place at the bleachers. Still, it's quite a cognitive leap to imagine yourself as a fan of your biggest rival and gay and paint those thoughts on a wall.

Update: The graffiti-ist was likely a fan of Racing rival Independiente, both teams from the gritty suburb of Avellaneda.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Hi. I'm a 32 year-old American currently living in Buenos Aires. Before that I lived in California, Sao Paulo and New York and if you browse through the archives below you can see photos of all those places. I also have an old geocities page with some outdated information but also more photos of Buenos Aires, friends and my 9/11 pictures.