vector illustration, 8-color, MOAR shirt.

got sort of a remade-steampunk feel to it; although the vast majority of China’s Remade characters have far more sordid accoutrements.  let’s just say Tanner Sack fixed her gears and gizmos right up.

-ezra

FIN

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here is “Well I never… Mister Abraham Lincoln!” ^^

done in illustrator; finished in photoshop.
for the penny experiment.

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the printed version, with richer and darker colors on Photo Rag archival paper…

a few quick facts about this project and the number 81:

Title:

“Well I never… Mister Abraham Lincoln!”  translated to the modern vernacular as “Pimpin Lincoln.”

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Inspiration:

Honest Abe is my inspiration for this piece — a man of mythic proportions with an identity that is a blend of truth and legend.  A President for which history holds numerous anecdotes, all of which reveal a human with an ethos as earthy as that of John Chapman.  Other than that, this piece was directly inspired by the following:  1) an article in the LA Times about the return of penny-pinching due to the recession,  2) Patrick Nagel’s art, and  3) the 1981 Rolling Stone cover featuring Yoko Ono and John Lennon.  This piece was brought to you by the number eighty-one.

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Allusions and whatnot:

I was born in ‘81.

I love basketball, sports has a way of bridging emotional chasms, and the boston celtics won it all in 81. (diehard golden state warriors fan.)

Lincoln’s ascendants were from Massachusetts, thus the Boston jersey works quite well.

In 81, big hair was in vogue.

Patrick Nagel loved white skinned woman and high contrast lipstick.

There is a picture out there of lincoln with some semi-bowie-esque hair.

Boomboxes.  Self-explanatory.

Abe had some steely greys and a fantastic sense of humor.

Big letters on shirts were big back then and so was NEON… and as fashion is recycled, they are big now as well.  The shirt says:

ABE
LIN
COLN

With the recession, penny pinching is back.  Love of Abe is back.

The background is black/charcoal much like Lincoln’s suits and top hat.

The 81 penny represents positive idealogy.

There are quite a few other facts that are a little bit more morbid concerning the number 81.  The last descendant of Lincoln passed away at 81 years of age, the USS Abraham Lincoln was decommissioned in 1981, and there is the sad, morbid thing with his stepmother and his son.

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Method:

Illustrator to Photoshop.  Printed to Photo Rag archival paper.  Glued on penny.  (5″ x 8″)

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i was listening to this SPOON song called Paper Tigers which lead me to think about another song with the same title, this time by Beck.  so paper tigers were bounding hither and tither in my noggin on their soft, cushy, ol’ tiger feet.  curiouser and curiouser, i wiki’d paper tigers.  the droll quote by Kruschev about tigers and nuclear teeth prompted me to think about Shaw’s musings about tigers and their abiding love of food.

…and so i wrote this pithy little ditty. enjoy.

two paper tigers i see

and they see me too

dressed in a herringbone suit

chenille dress neatly pressed

affected aristocracy

of blue-blooded celebrity

how very rude of them to stare . . .

my frightened hairs cry out -

“BEWARE”

and in this moment i am made aware -

i see two sincere tigers

and they see me too

and instead of Mao i think of Shaw

and how these tigers will devour me raw.

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a tiger in a cage is a tiger in a cage.   respect.

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- ezra

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- ezra