As Baghdad Erupts in Riot of Color, Calls to Tone It Down

[LSyd]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/wo...html?ref=world

BAGHDAD — In downtown Baghdad, a police headquarters has been painted two shades of purple: lilac and grape. The central bank, a staid building in many countries, is coated in bright red candy cane stripes

Multicolored fluorescent lights cover one of the city’s bridges, creating a Hawaiian luau effect. Blast walls and security checkpoints stick out because they are often painted in hot pink.

Baghdad has weathered invasion, occupation, sectarian warfare and suicide bombers. But now it faces a new scourge: tastelessness.

Iraqi artists and architecture critics who shudder at each new pastel building blame a range of factors for Baghdad’s slide into tackiness: including corruption and government ineptitude, as well as everyday Iraqis who are trying to banish their grim past and are unaccustomed to having the freedom to choose any color they want.

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[elusive]

nice article, couldn't agree with it more...building owners should have to lodge a form through the committee telling them what they plan to do, including the colours chosen...the colours of the buildings popping up are a bit eccentric

[BigDreamer]

yea, I read it earlier today.. I was about to post it too, since few here often make not of some of the growing 'tackiness' around Iraq..