Natan Dvir: “Comin Soon” – New Yorkers and their Colossal Advertisements

USA – 

‘Coming Soon’ by Israeli photographer, Natan Dvir, is an exploration of our visual relationship with the branded city centers and the commercial environment we live in. In recent years huge billboards have enveloped the commercial hubs of New York City. The branding of the cityscape has become so ubiquitous, that the colorful, monumental advertisements, looming over the narrow streets, seem to be virtually unnoticed by the passersby. Giant billboards both dominate the urban landscape and blend into the background. Monumental figures are displayed in an effort to create our culture while they represent it in the same time.

This new series of pictures continues to explore the relationship between the near-future illusions and physical reality. While new and advanced ways of consuming information create a growing world of virtual, mobile, and personalized ads, the city itself becomes an advertising medium. The immense billboards gradually permeate the whole city, from SoHo to Time Square. Always in the peripheral vision, these ads turn pedestrians into passive spectators. People inhabiting the space underneath are pulled, unaware, into a staged set, as the reality of the street merges with the commercial fantasy of the advertisements.