Monday, September 3, 2007

el dorado




Here's something a lil different.

The first is a photo I took of a shooting gallery game in Coney Island. When I photograph, I have a thing for signs and lettering. I like cutting off the letters so they look disembodied, like their own beings. I especially love the carnival light bulbs here giving each letter it's own three dimensional, surreal, bubbly aspect. (I don't know if it's kosher for artists over the age of 8 to describe their work as "bubbly").

Anyway, I draw most of my lithographs from photos I've taken. The above photo inspired this two color lithograph I did earlier this summer.

I changed the colors to blue and a sort of acid green, something more watery. I love the gritty, weird, dirty playground look of my Coney photos, but the drawings I do inevitably arise from the more nostalgic and romantic vision I have, influenced by historic reading I've done on the place, the idea of amusement culture, and the way Coney Island has reinvented itself over and over for those inspired by it--from 19th century real estate-greedy entrepreneurs, to idealistic amusement park owners who dreamed of building castles by the beach, to artists and hipsters enamored with the down and out, wondering-about-tomorrow Coney Island of today.

It certainly is a place which inspires interpretation.

2 comments:

pbzell said...

hi - i got signed up. third try at commenting but i forget which image or essay i'm on. i liked the venice photo - like a watercolor. oh i see - "el dorado" that's the essay on coney island which was good. you should take up writing again although your lithos are getting better and better.

could we use your blog site to resurrect zfbc and expand its membership?

kzm said...

i forgot about the zfbc. let's get it going again.