Puttin’ On the Ritz
There’s always that crazy dance break in old timey movies from the middle of the 20th Century: the grand actor man slash dancer has been wooing a lady for the first three-quarters of the movie and boom, he lets out his inner gay and shines with a twirl or two. I’m really interested in delusions of grandeur, and I think these movie dance breaks, if interpreted my way, emphasize the protagonist’s separation from actual reality. Bret Easton Ellis does a good job of describing a more current picture of fabulous delusion in Glamorama with visions of confetti, but for now, I like to think of the old neon signs and yards of sparkling gold fabric that come with Old Hollwood. I really like working with neon, albeit a 2-D graphic of the material and not the actual physical object. I’m even more deluded to think I’m working with real neon—how ‘bout that?
Here’s some images of the ideas I’m thinking about:
