As a design student am interested in highlighting the differences in communicative and practical products and aesthetics that this new land exhibits against my native Britain. the advertising industry interests me greatly but I intend to look into design, art, architecture, music, social and public affairs. I am hoping that my comments and documentation serve you for your own ends. Now that I have had my fix of verbose rhetoric, here are some photos I took yesterday. click for image for supersize.
Yesterday was rainy. The skyscrapers streched out far beneath me.
This is what they call "garbage" or "Trash".
Antiques Garage. Two floors of car park, selling various antique furniture, clothing and printed matter. BIG recommendation, 112 W 25th St between Sixth and Seventh Aves. Picked up a copy of the Dec 1955 Esquire* and an amazing GOLDEN TRAIN!**
Crappy photo, but these are my friend's Alice and Colleen prostituting their way to a one off reduced price paste up print of a disused photo of Ringo Starr, Taken for some magazine which i will find out the name of, I think they paid $40 in the end.All of the Stall holders at the Antiques Garage seemed to have stories behind their stock, It was hard to tell if this place was just full of very interesting people with bizarre connections to the rich and famous or they were very talented liars, The fact that the other clientelle were predominantly locals and regulars made me lean towards the theory that this was a genuine repository for the well lived objects that this megacity has produced or tarnished with it's erratic fast moving energies.
We Tried to go to the Flea Market underneath the Brooklyn bridge but it wasn't open due to it only being open on Sundays, however we did see a girl in a big purple dress and a load of guys in white suits. they surrounded Colleen and pointed at me. I was shitting my pants, luckily mine were dark blue.
I'm sure you already know/have seen this but the Brooklyn Bridge is pretty amazing.
My camera ran out of battery, but my friend Jack once taught me that if you shake the battery hard enough and stick it under your armpit, then shake it a bit more, the battery usually takes one last photo in a plead to make you stop. this is taken from the roof of a Bushwick warehouse that friend Sophia invite us to. later there were DJ's/VJ's and a little spherical disco light, Dancing with your eyes closed on top of a roof then opening your eyes and looking out over Brooklyn and realising your on top of a roof and dancing makes you feel pretty good about breathing, BIG recommendation.
*This is a spread from the Dec 1955 Esquire I bought at the Antiques Market, there are some really great illustrations of women opening up Christmas presents naked. I love the Psychology behind this. "Buy this and she'll get naked!" Genious!
Here are a few more from the series, i really love the poses and intend to use them in a few future projects as for some reason i still can't seem to get on any of the life drawing courses here at FIT.
This is an Ad in the Classifieds of the Esquire, it's funny. There are plenty of great american 50s Full ads and infomercials throughout the magazine which i am bound to post up soon as some of them are priceless. which is good considering i spent $15 on the magazine. though it was going to be $20 if it weren't for my super bargaining skills. thanks bald BBC bargain speech impediment cockney, whatever your name is. you know who you are, you saved me $5.
**My 'Golden Cloud' golden train, just look at it, do i need to say anymore? i don't think so, it's a train, and it's gold. When I get hold of three D-size batteries I can check if the 'Clunk Clunk' 'Choo Choo' sounds and front headlight work. Engineers head moves FTW.
A Return to the Brooklyn Flea on a Sunday led to my second and final Vehical Purchase of the weekend, was my lovely new (1970) Nida Vista. it's big, heavy, a little bit rusty and the smoothest ride I have ever experienced. you don't cycle on the Vista, you glide upon the sidewalk. The guy who sold this to me is there every Sunday and sells re-tuned second hand bikes for $100-200 I got this badboy at a discount due to my Friend Becca buying hers with me, group discount got it for 125 bucks a piece which translates to £77 each. Still budget dictates this will be my last purchase for a while.But who needs money? I am greatly looking forward to gliding around Manhatten for the next four months before I sell this beautiful piece of lead to another vintage bike lover.
