THE KING OF STRAWBERRY MANSION - 2020 (SOLD)

Materials: Vintage Photos, Misc Papers, Wood, Acrylics, Metals, Beads, Sandpaper on Board

Size: 13”x15”

Based on a photo and story from my father’s childhood where he got to sit on a pony and have his picture taken by an itinerant photographer who traveled the gritty urban Philadelphia streets looking for business. Unfortunately, the story was bittersweet and ended in tears when he got down off the pony he tripped on the big crack in the pavement (visible in the photo) and fell. But when he was telling me about it, his 60+ something face was lit up with happiness. It seemed like he was traveling back in time and reliving that thrill of sitting on the little horse feeling on top of the world.

The happiness of the memory and sensation of the textures of that day influenced the materials and process of this piece. I used a dark palette, common to the period of the photo. There are many layers of other photos that would be from his future, barely visible through layered paper and paint. I wanted to show the specialness of the event for him and how good it made him feel so I gave him a crown and used metallic gold paint with applied beads and other metals to symbolize his golden hour. The texture of his environment was also important so I used sandpaper to symbolize the concrete of the neighborhood and the sensation of the rough pavement underneath him when he fell.