Menswear Dog (2014)

This is a newly painted electronics box, on the corner of Great North Road and Williamson Avenue in Grey Lynn. I did take a photo of this box a couple of days ago. Not only did the result not compete with the photo of the Sky Tower which I ended up posting; I was unhappy with the composition.

Yesterday on my way home after work, I saw how to get the picture. So this afternoon I went to the corner (did have a letter to two to post in the nearby Post Shop; the building labelled kokako was the Grey Lynn Post Office, and is now a cafe), and took a few photos.

As I framed up this one, I realised that walking into the shot was a man whom I regularly see sitting on the pavement a short way along Williamson Avenue, mostly hidden under his "golf umbrella". Very occasionally I have seen him interact with a passerby. Most often I see him laughing quietly to himself, and avoiding being seen and seeing others. He appears to carry his belongings with him; if so they are few. At the end of the day, he walks away. In the mornings he walks back, often from a different direction to that I have seen him walk away in.

Does he have a shelter to go to? I do not know. All I know is that when he is sitting there, he does not read, he does not listen to music, and he rarely talks to passers by. I do not know if he is content, or if he wants something different.

The artist for this painted box is Paul Walsh. The painting was sponsored by Daren Grover.