Seas of Glass and Barriers of Substance: A Global Survey of Windows and Portals

By Marques Vickers

This edition follows a diverse global survey of windows and portal elements featuring architectural, contextual and symbolic openings and exits. The images showcase random, diverse and unique perspectives. They are positioned in context from detailed buildings and accompanying exterior ornamentation.

The selection represents a visual diary of international metaphors through the camera lens. Shadow, light and distortion may alter familiar structures into artistic and abstract compositions. Over 475 images elude simplistic explanation offering alternative views punctuated by aesthetic continuity.

The concept of a window or portal is examined without commentary. This book is a visual palette of the apparently evident and the interpreted.

One views a window that may penetrate clarity or by contrast a mirrored reflection offering reflective insight. One views a portal as an implied inviting entrance or a barrier emphatically preventive assimilation. The dualities in potential meaning are left to the viewer’s interpretation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marques Vickers
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005481025

Marques Vickers

Visual Artist, Writer and Photographer Marques Vickers is a California native presently living in the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle, Washington regions. He was born in 1957 and raised in Vallejo, California. He is a 1979 Business Administration graduate from Azusa Pacific University in the Los Angeles area. Following graduation, he became the Public Relations and ultimately Executive Director of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce between 1979-84. He subsequently became the Vice President of Sales for AsTRA Tours and Travel in Westwood between 1984-86. Following a one-year residence in Dijon, France where he studied at the University of Bourgogne, he began Marquis Enterprises in 1987. His company operations have included sports apparel exporting, travel and tour operations, wine brokering, publishing, rare book and collectibles reselling. He has established numerous e-commerce, barter exchange and art websites including MarquesV.com, ArtsInAmerica.com, InsiderSeriesBooks.com, DiscountVintages.com and WineScalper.com. Between 2005-2009, he relocated to the Languedoc region of southern France. He concentrated on his painting and sculptural work while restoring two 19th century stone village residences. His figurative painting, photography and sculptural works have been sold and exhibited internationally since 1986. He re-established his Pacific Coast residence in 2009 and has focused his creative productivity on writing and photography. His published works span a diverse variety of subjects including true crime, international travel, California wines, architecture, history, Southern France, Pacific Coast attractions, fiction, auctions, fine art marketing, poetry, fiction and photojournalism. He has two daughters, Charline and Caroline who presently reside in Europe.

Book preview

Preface

When I awaken from this dream of consciousness, I glimpse crystalline entryways resembling windows of invitation. Sadly I may not avail myself to all. When I follow the contours of passageways, I sense that a journey has begun lacking conclusive termination. The accompanying infinite darkness may evolve into future enlightenment. It may also shroud obvious truths leaving my vision cloudy and uncertain. The windows and portals that follow are exhibited from structures positioned globally. Some provide testament to architectural detail, a sampling offer humorous and offbeat perspective while still others defy ornamentation and our more familiar definitions of a window or portal.