Mixed Media Décollage

I started with some photos from Elle Magazine. They looked new and shiny so I knew I need to age them. I painted a layer of Liquitex Matte Medium on cardboard and placed a magazine photo face down. Then I rolled it with a brayer for a few minutes before I lifted off the paper. I waited until it was partially adhered to give it that look of distressed posters on the side of buildings (décollage). 

I layered a few more images using the Liquitex Medium transfer method then hand colored with liquid watercolors and paint. I've been photographing street art in lower Manhattan for decades. If I ran across this image on the side of a building I'd definitely take out my camera to document it. I'd want to be really large. Pretty street art? Why not? 

Keith Haring

I took this photo on July 13, 1982 at the Astor Place subway stop on my way to work. Last week I saw a similar piece in the Haring Show at the Brooklyn Museum. I used a Polaroid SX-70, the same kind of camera Keith used to take the self portraits at the beginning of this show. Seriously, two of my all time favorite things: street art and Polaroid SX-70 cameras. 

In 2012 you can see Keith's work in a museum. You can also buy a vintage SX-70 camera on Amazon and get film from the Impossible Project. But nothing can quite compare with the magic of finding this work in ordinary places back in the day. 

This week I got a little dose of the kind of magic I'm most fond of. Some wonderful people Occupied NYC with art on May Day and I found myself smiling like it was 1982.