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Studio Visit: Philomena Marano of the Coney Island Hysterical Society

Posted in art, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island Hysterical Society, Philomena Marano on October 26, 2010| 4 Comments »

Philomena Marano with cut paper installation Giant Lolly, Homage to Philip's Candy. Photo © Tricia Vita

Earlier this month, we visited the Gowanus studio shared by Coney Island Hysterical Society co-founders Philomena Marano and Richard Eagan. In this two-part post, ATZ’s photos are interspersed with the artists’ own words about their Coney-inspired artwork.

Lately I’ve been considering one of the strains that run through both of our works- something I coined as a “Fool the Guesser” concept- Loosely defined: things seem like one thing, but may be another -perhaps bordering on “optical illusion” but not in the strictest sense- more like a form of visual play.

Eagan has a series of painted target constructions which take on a kinetic quality as one changes their point of view, and I have work in which it is really tough to decipher the medium it was created in- printed, paper or painted… thus summoning a sense of wonderment or an invitation to a guessing game.

We’re planning to group these selected works and hope to find a venue for an exhibition.

My new PLAY FASCINATION piece actually revisits an earlier set of works with the same name, but it’s more “unhinged.” In this piece I used a perception shifting ploy. What seems to be flat is actually sculptural. Is it caving in or blowing out? – there is no “one way” to view it.

To create it I made a cut paper composition which I then cut up into pieces. Next I reassembled them so that the pieces sit on different levels, some tilted inward, some outward and some level, thus adding dimension and delirium.

I originally borrowed the type face I use in my PLAY FASCINATION works from a decaying metal sign that hung on the side of the Faber’s Fascination building on Surf Avenue. In 1990 I recomposed the elements and created 5 similar works with the same title; one in cut paper and four hard edged paintings. I recall viewers engaged in examining the work as it hung side by side in an exhibit, wondering or “guessing,” is this paper, painted or printed?

This “fun house” or” magic show of illusion” concept appeals to me because it parallels my subject matter. I think it’s time to explore & embrace this unique Coney Island essence a bit further- to pay tribute to it.

Related posts on ATZ...

October 26, 2010: Studio Visit: Richard Eagan of the Coney Island Hysterical Society

October 1, 2010: Oct 2: Coney Island Hysterical Art on Gowanus Artists Studio Tour

September 19, 2010: Art of the Day: Play Fascination by Philomena Marano

October 4, 2009: The Wonder of Artist Philomena Marano’s Wonder Wheel

Read Full Post »

Studio Visit: Richard Eagan of the Coney Island Hysterical Society

Posted in art, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island Hysterical Society, Richard Eagan on October 26, 2010| 2 Comments »

Artist Richard Eagan's lovely alter ego Kay Sera with Oceanic Baths. Photo © Tricia Vita via flickr

In 1985, the artists of the Coney Island Hysterical Society created and operated a Spookhouse behind Nathan’s, exhibited artwork at Sideshows by the Seashore and had a group show at LaMama. Society co-founders Richard Eagan and Philomena Marano continue to collaborate on Coney-themed art. A recent visit to the Gowanus studio shared by Eagan and Marano inspired this two-part post…

I began my career as a visual artist with a series of dreams about Coney island. Ten in one year (1978) – Steeplechase, The Thunderbolt, many locales, and I realized I had hand skills to evoke those places. Eventually I understood that’s what artists did. It snuck up on me. Generally speaking, I launched into a series of realist-based portraits of many of the places I had known in Coney Island. I needed to bring these places to life. Although my work has developed and changed through the years, I still return to the architectural portraiture of my early work.

Oddly, though, one of my very first pieces was an installation for “Tricks and Treats at the World in Wax Musee” curated by Dick Zigun back in… 1980? I filled a display case with a piece evoking the demolition of the Steeplechase Pavilion of Fun, titled “I Must Have Been Dreaming”- the curving space of the Panama Slide was filled with jagged, broken shards of wood.

During the Spookhouse Project of 1984-85, I began a series of paintings with bulls-eye imagery, and I imagined a few of them might want to have those shards bursting through the picture plane into real space, as if a wall had exploded out. Though they were not executed then, I returned to the idea in a series of small 12″ square canvasses in the 1990’s. They were an immediate hit, and I sold quite a few of those.

The short hop to combining the Coney work with the exploding architecture was a no-brainer once I accepted that the Coney Island of my childhood was imploding, burning, and would never return. I didn’t foresee the Thor paradigm, of course, but I needed to create pieces expressing my anguish over the ruins of my beloved playground. Hence the work with exploding shards, broken glass, and faded, ghostly signage. “Oceanic Baths” (not an actual Coney place name) was the first in this series, and the piece that helped me combine constructed sculptural work with abstract expressionist-style paintwork and pop culture imagery.

I expect I will be working the various styles in different combinations for some time to come as the future of the place of my inspiration and dreams unfolds.

Mystery Artist Carved Faces into Rocks on Coney Island Beach in 1970s

Posted in art, Photo Album, Photography, tagged Bruce Handy, Coney Island Beach, Rock carving on October 5, 2010| 10 Comments »

The largest of several mysterious rock carvings found on Coney Island's Beach. October 1, 2010. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

Two weeks ago we posted Bruce Handy’s photos of an Easter Island-like face carved into a rock on Coney Island’s beach. The photographer had found the carving after a summer-long search set in motion by a mysterious pic I’d seen on twitter. Both of us supposed it was a hoax because we’d neither seen nor heard of any carvings on the beach. Now we know why: the face was buried in the sand!

ATZ thought it would be fun to post Bruce’s first pix of the face as a mystery photo and have readers guess its location. Much to our surprise, Jack Szwergold, a reader who grew up in the neighborhood, quickly replied with the correct answer as well as memories of the carver:

I was a kid, so what I remember is a leathery, shirtless tanned old man with white hair and facial hair. I was born in 1968, so I would say I saw the guy carving this between 1976 and 1979. Yeah, a huge swath of time, but I know it was not earlier than that. Definitely looks “smoother” due to age than I remember it.

No idea who the guy was but there is an equal chance he’s a artist or one of the many transient “characters” Brighton’s cheap rent attracted. Or perhaps a mix of both?

Who knows exactly. What a magical, weird place the neighborhood was back then.

Oh, for what it’s worth I always thought it was an American Indian. As an adult it looks a tad Aztec to my eyes.

One of the faces carved into rocks on Coney Island's Beach. September 25, 2010. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

Since then Bruce Handy and friends have discovered and photographed five more carvings. You can see his set of photos on flickr. Here are excerpts from Bruce’s “Easter Island” in Coney Island Diary:

9/25/10
I found one more face, that makes five, 3 small ones on one rock, one big
one and the one I found today: medium size on the rock closest to the shore.
Now for the strange part. The big face is 80% covered with sand. I had to dig
out the top portion. I thought at first someone had removed the rock from
the beach. After about ten minutes I found the upper portion. So the ocean has
returned the sand. Until the next hurricane, the face will remain hidden.

10/1/10 – TS Nicole has released Mr. Easter from the silent sorrowful sand giving him a brief glimpse of the Sun today.

Unfinished. October 3, 2010. Photo © Bruce Handy/Pablo 57 via flickr

10/2/10 – Jim V discovered another face, a profile on the corner of a rock….

10/3/10 – Sand is coming back, Mr. Easter is 1/2 covered. A Russian man exercising before his swim points out a bas relief face on the east side closer to the water. Another abstract face, maybe unfinished, is also discovered near the boardwalk.