It was late in the day as the annual “Furry Parade” was wrapping up in Pittsburgh, there were all type of hairy little critters walking the streets as I was heading back to New York aboard “Big Blue” the mega of all Mega buses. One such passenger walked by me with a Women’s Black Velvet Hat and a Black Flower to the side, and holding a Mickey Mouse handbag of sorts, that woke me up. Pittsburgh has changed a lot, but this was quite curious and stylish.
Madonna and Mickey Mouse
I usually don’t talk to anyone on the bus, eight hours of quietness with a book or a game of solitaire-it’s all the same. But this I couldn’t pass up, the Velvet hat and Flower were right in front of me, so I slowly engaged the young man in front of me in conversation; “..Were you part of the Furry parade I asked” curious what animal he could be and he replied, “…No, I always dress like this”. Wonderful, I said to myself as we exchanged pleasantries and it turned out we were both photographers and he was on his way to Ecuador for an exhibit.
Rest stop, Drums Pennsylvania
In the last fifteen years or so it has become popular that there are teams of artist producing works of art, the first such team that I recall was Mike & Doug Starn-I don’t know if this collaboration makes the work stronger-but fashionable for sure. Sam Brown (Black Velvet Hat) and his counterpart, Maria Escudero have produced some bold and creative images for sure-attached is a link to their website (http://www.trans-meat.com) the work is quite theatrical and laced with both pop and drama.