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Posts Tagged ‘cut paper collage’

Video of the Day: Philomena Marano’s “Take Me There”

Posted in art, video, tagged animation, Bensonhurst, Coney Island, cut paper collage, Philomena Marano, subway on December 20, 2013| 2 Comments »

ATZ has featured Philomena Marano’s artwork in the past, but missed seeing this delightful cut-paper animation “Take Me There” (2011) until she posted it on Facebook as a holiday greeting. The short film was produced by Mary Nittolo of The Studio and features music by Carol Lipnik. Marano, whose cut-paper collages and prints celebrate Coney Island’s rides, games and signage, recently moved back to the South Brooklyn neighborhood of Bensonhurst, where she grew up. Childhood train rides to Coney Island inspired the piece, the artist says…

Growing up, I can’t remember ever NOT going to Coney Island. It seemed like we took that elevated train to the beach every day. We’d board the train at the 79th Street station (at that time, early on it was known as the “West End” or “T” line, later it became the B and is now the D), We were just 6 stops away from Stillwell Avenue. The ride seemed so short that in my young mind I imagined that the elevated train was an extension of the roller coaster! One and the same. I lived 1 1/2 blocks from the elevated line and even when we weren’t riding, the rumbling overhead was still the roller coaster, high above New Utrecht Avenue.

Marano’s prints are for sale at Coney Island USA and Tabla Rasa Gallery in Brooklyn and Smart Clothes Gallery and City Lore in Manhattan. Pendants featuring images from the artist’s Coney Island series are available online via her Philo-mania store.

Art of the Day: Play Fascination by Philomena Marano

Posted in art, tagged Coney Island, Coney Island Hysterical Society, cut paper collage, Faber's Fascination, Philomena Marano, signage, typography on September 19, 2010| 6 Comments »

PLAY FASCINATION by Philomena Marano. Cut paper collage, 1990s

In 2007, artist Philomena Marano’s signature art piece, “The World’s Largest Paper Lollypop,” paid tribute to Coney Island’s much-missed Philip’s Candy, which moved to Staten Island when Stillwell Terminal was rebuilt. Her latest tribute to a vanished Coney icon is this cut paper piece done in the early 90s and dedicated to Faber’s Fascination.

When Marano recently learned that Faber’s sign had gone dark, she posted the image on Facebook along with a note: “Do you remember the ‘FABERS FASCINATION’ sign made up of a million light bulbs? Visible as you got off the train station on Surf Ave- well, the sign was taken down recently. Tears.”

The piece is from Marano’s Coney Island series “American Dreamland,” which spans over 20 years (1979-present). “I think Faber’s Fascination, all lit up, was symbolic in the fact that it was the introduction to ‘Fascination’ in general…. as you left the train station & stepped into the Coney Island world,” says Marano.

In 1981, the Brooklyn native co-founded the Coney Island Hysterical Society with fellow artist Richard Eagan because they were “Hysterical” at the rate that the amusement rides and attractions were shutting down. Her work is currently on view in “Urbanessence,” a group exhibition at New York Institute of Technology’s Gallery 61 through October 7th. One of the pieces, “Vision for the Parachute Jump Pavilion,” is a composite of design ideas in collaboration with architect Philip Tusa for the Van Alen Institute competition in 2005.