Ruben Pagan - Jesse Rieser - The Changing Landscape of American Retail

This project by Jesse Rieser is one of my favorite ones yet. The way he composes each frame is so carefully envisioned and made by taking into account the manner in which the viewer's eyes travel across every individual image. His use of soft, pastel colors helps convey a sentimentally reminiscent view. He also pays close attention to each geometric plane and makes sure they're evenly aligned across the frame. Altogether, his technical decisions work together to really give the viewer a sense of a not so distant past, that is already beginning to be abandoned.

The artist's conceptual intentions are clear, he wishes to portray a sense of being able to look into the past and peeing into the future without necessarily showing the future in his images. The future is implied by how life is around us today. Technology is evolving and we're becoming ever so consumed by all of the new changes in our society. Rieser isn't trying to go against change though, he is simply shining a light on times of his younger years in a reminiscent manner. He mentions some of the memories he has had in retail stores in the mall of the area in which he grew up in. In those experiences, friends socialize and meet up in malls, and unintentionally develop face-to-face social skills with strangers. Rieser is trying to show how although we haven't completely lost these times, they're approaching a not-so-distant end.

Rieser's intentions make me feel reminiscent without a doubt. Each image makes me feel slightly different and give me different memories about this particular past. Although I was born in 98', I remember a time when I was younger when internet communication, social media, and online shopping weren't yet relevant. Every mall would be thriving on any given day of the week. You could go and see many different people, some not even there for the purpose of shopping. They were hangout spots for teens after school and places where people would go for lunch. These days, when I drive past a closed Toys R Us, it reminds me of being in Puerto Rico with my grandparents and my little brother, and my brother begging for stuffed animals. He late puked in one of the isles due to eating too much candy. Memories like these, even though they may not have anything to do with the location, are directly associated with them when I think of those moments.