One of the things that has constantly fascinated me throughout my life is how neglect can add a special kind of beauty to a location. Its often a touch sad, with a bit of added lonely. This neglect can appear in remote locations or in the midst of a busy city. All it takes is a lack of care that was previously present.
I'm not saying all neglect is beautiful. Sometimes abandoned spaces are ugly, dirty, and even scary. Sometimes a space that is not abandoned suffers from a lack of attention or maintenance and the place becomes atypically rough around the edges. The overall economics of an area and related social factors tend to affect how much of this neglect we come across in our general routine.
What I have noticed lately is that due to Covid it seems like a lot of outdoor maintenance seems to have been put aside or deprioritized, obviously resources get spent where they are needed most in times like these. So it makes sense, when spending more on sanitizing and other life saving measures some things get trimmed from the budget. There is less to spend on cosmetic paint jobs and non-urgent repairs. As a result, usually well-maintained areas might look a little rough around the edges these days.
But even in pre-Covid times, there is always something that is slowly aging out of this world. Things and spaces that just don't have the need to be kept going. That old farm house down the street just collapsing on itself and no one even trying to stop it. That old movie theater that turned into a buffet before closing once again. The abandoned school house in the woods that's all boarded up but if you peek inside you see evidence that the graffiti artists have been busy at work inside.
Every area has its own little types of wear and fatigue that add a certain beauty of age to them. Sure, there's something about when a place is new and fresh that makes them pleasant, but for the most part if something is so clean and new and pristine is seems to lack a touch of flavor. Too much neglect and areas are often then inaccessible or dangerous. Go beyond that point and eventually nature (or a construction crew) steps in and takes over.
It can be those imperfections that come with age and a little inattention that end up creating a true beauty. For each person and each place what is beautiful about it varies. Sometimes its just a subtle imperfection to heighten a beauty, sometimes its how far something has fallen from its original state and yet has somehow transformed into a new different beauty.
I have places I go to over and over. My happy places. Sometimes its out in the woods, sometimes its wandering around the museum. If you look closely and pay attention, you notice the subtle changes, and sometimes not so subtle.
On my last trip to the museum of art I took some time to wander around behind the museum. Its an area I have spent a good deal of time, I even took some of my wedding photos back there. Its an area I know well. But I was actually surprised by the state it was in this last time. The gazebos had far more graffiti than usual. The one was closed off with a piece of fencing, the other had wood boards missing and a haphazard wire mending. It was so different from how I was used to seeing it that it inspired me to capture the moment.
This little gazebo that first appeared as a concept in architectural drawings of the museum as far back as 1915, this little gazebo who I've given so little thought when visiting on museum trips or bike rides over the years, finally this gazebo caught my eye in the right way to become a painting. Because now, this little gazebo had a story.
I'm sure they'll get around to maintaining it again, but it looks like its a had a few rough years. Like we all have.
And maybe that's what makes neglect so beautiful sometimes.
Something might be a little worse from wear, but its still hanging on and doing its thing and that's lovely. And just because its a taken a few hits doesn't make it any less captivating, it just adds to the intrigue.
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