Sunday, June 23, 2013

Colour, cranes and mid-winter blue

This weekend, Jeffrey Smart died. The papers were full of his urban images. I love the strong colour in his work and that he addressed stark urban subjects, like containers. Colour was central to his work. This is in my mind as the Port of Melbourne Corporation invites people's views about crane colours as part of the Port expansion project. There are a bewildering 18 colour options offered. The Port of Melbourne's publications have always drawn on the very strong colours of gantry, container and ship. But it seems that at this stage the public's preferred option is for disguise, camouflage and grey. Don't know about you, but grey and camouflage communicate uncomfortably about navies and war. I much prefer to look the Port to look like the Port. The mid-winter sun on the Port this morning confirmed just how much I like that red.
Since we (in Port) are going to see quite a few of these gantries along the eastern side of Webb Dock, it is worth expressing an opinion on the crane colours since your opinion is being invited.
What do you prefer?
You can try out all the crane colour options at the Port's Capacity Project page and indicate your preference.

Down river from the Bolte Bridge

No comments:

Post a Comment